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Priyanka Jayashankar

This cosmetologist uses the latest treatment to cure leucoderma. But the bigger battle is against the stigma attached to the skin disorder.

For this practitioner, curing leucoderma is not simply a makeover, but a fight against a stigma. "Some even mistake it for leprosy," laments Dr G.R. Ratnavel, a cosmetologist and dermatologist at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. Using cutting-edge science, he wages a "Mahabharata war" against the destruction of melanocytes (cells responsible for skin colour), which triggers white pigmentation.

With a six-year-old practice, the Madurai-born doctor feels that each successful leucoderma surgery is like the patient's rebirth, as it ends years of psychological trauma.

Many, especially in rural areas, ignore the early symptoms of leucoderma and attempt herbal remedies. However, the cosmetologist warns, "It recoils like a sleeping tiger."

To dispel myths about the condition, he has conducted medical workshops all over Tamil Nadu. With techniques like micro punch, split skin grafting and micro-pigmentation, he claims the success rate in treating leucoderma (or vitiligo) is 100 per cent.

Melanocytes are transferred to the affected area in a micro-punch surgery. Though complete recovery takes about five months, it is a permanent cure. On the other hand, split-skin grafting entails the super-imposition of normal skin on the affected area and micro-pigmentation (or tattooing) involves the implantation of skin colour.

"These `make-up' techniques cover the white patches, but they do not cure melanocyte deficiency," points out Dr Ratnavel. There are many takers for these high-priced remedies (Rs 5,000 for one sitting).

Interestingly, most people opt for the surgery when they are about to be married. While clients ranging from movie stars to small-town folk are on his appointment list, medical innovation tops his agenda. His latest treatment (under trial) involves applying fluorouracil, a chemotherapy drug, on the skin to displace immune cells.

He, however, discourages weight-reduction surgeries such as liposuction and abdominoplasty which, he says, have a failure rate as high as 50-60 per cent.

Even after liposuction, in which the fat is sucked out through a canula tube using negative air pressure, fat cells continue expanding. Sometimes, it can also damage blood vessels. And though abdominoplasty (where an incision is made to remove folds from the abdomen) has no side effects, it leaves behind suture marks.

"I usually advocate a healthy diet and lots of exercise for overweight clients," he adds.

Besides administering BOTOX to smoothen wrinkles, he also uses the vitamin to treat hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating of the palms). Radio-frequency surgeries to remove skin tumours and chemical peels (containing glycolic acid) to treat black lesions are a rage across metros. To prevent inflammation, he prescribes follow-up drugs. "Doctors should do what's good for their patients without adding to their problems!"

Cosmetology clinics are also increasingly sought after to treat baldness. Over the last two years, Dr Ratnavel has performed about 300 hair transplants for men in the 20-35 age group and cites a 90 per cent success rate.

"After clinical analysis, the hair is transferred from the back to the front, where the hair is androgen-dependent," he explains.

He recalls the hair transplant he made on a 27-year-old bank manager, who was congenitally bald since a bull gore had pierced his mother's uterus during her pregnancy. "It was one of my most challenging cases," admits the doctor.

Tattoo removals inspire irony in him. He once used dermabrasion technique (to create a superficial wound that would later re-grow normal skin) to remove a tattooed name from a patient's skin.

"I asked her whether she wanted to remove Johnson's name from her heart or her skin," says the worldly-wise cosmetologist. She replied that she had no choice, as her parents wanted her to marry someone else. "I dissuade people from imprinting tattoos, which can cause a lot of friction in relationships."

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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