Talk:Piebaldism

Article categorization
This article was categorized based on scheme outlined at WP:DERM:CAT. kilbad (talk) 02:40, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

Piebaldim occurs in skin
I removed the "occurring in the hair" part, as piebaldism refers not only to abnormalities in hair colouring but also in skin pigmentation - see references. Perhaps a fuller definition might see "occurring in hair and skin" but the definition in the article seems to be the common one.DI Ramekin 08:55, 22 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm going to be expanding this article in the near future to include piebaldism as a result of domestication, though I'm wondering if anyone had any bright ideas to avoid including it in a medical disease article.Countercanter (talk) 15:53, 16 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I assume when you refer to domestication, you're referring to piebaldism occurring in animals? I was not aware of domestication as a cause - although I don't doubt it. If you add this, please be aware that piebaldism occurs in humans too, so you'll need to make the distinction. DI Ramekin (talk) 12:29, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Mosaicism, Chimerism and Leucism
I know very little about this, but it seems as though Piebaldism is a type of Leucism? Should someone write up a line or two on the distinction between these 2? And, I've heard this can be caused by Mosaicism and Chimerism, again I know nothing about it but perhaps it should be included in the article.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and add a picture of a piebald snake. Quincyjo (talk) 22:29, 25 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I only know the coloration in horses, and in their case it isn't mosaicism or chimerism, I don't think Leucism is a part of any of the 3-4 different genetic mechanisms that create pinto horses, but don't quote me on that one. Montanabw (talk) 02:50, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

Why separate articles?
There is a separate article for piebald in non-humans. Not sure why they have to be separate. The conditions are the same. Student7 (talk) 19:19, 29 August 2015 (UTC)


 * The conditions are very different in expression - the animal version is often a desired color trait and selectively bred, in humans, it is regarded as a disorder. I presume the articles on the underlying genetics mention both, though.   Montanabw (talk)  04:43, 30 August 2015 (UTC)


 * In a common article there is a conflict between the need to cover the one or few specific human conditions to wikipedia's standards for medical articles vs the need to compare and contrast a huge range of similar but different (and often poorly understood) conditions across multiple species (where humans are just a another species). TuxLibNit (talk) 20:56, 9 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, I agree.  Montanabw (talk)  05:09, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Piebaldism vs Poliosis
This article states: "Piebaldism is unrelated to conditions such as vitiligo or poliosis."

The article on Poliosis states: "Poliosis occurs in several genetic syndromes such as piebaldism, Waardenburg syndrome, neurofibromatosis type I, and tuberous sclerosis."

This is contradictory. Which article is correct? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Filobel (talk • contribs) 21:50, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Piebaldism vs Albinism
This article states, "Piebaldism differs from albinism in that the affected cells maintain the ability to produce pigment but have that specific function turned off. In albinism the cells lack the ability to produce pigment altogether."

In contradiction to this different sources state that in Piebaldism the affected skin areas lack melanin producing cells (melanocytes).

E.g. the following review from 2012:

Piebaldism: A brief report and review of the literature Indian Dermatol Online J. 2012 May-Aug; 3(2): 144–147. doi: 10.4103/2229-5178.96722

"Piebaldism is a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by the congenital absence of melanocytes in affected areas of the skin and hair due to mutations of the c-kit gene, located on Chromosome 4q12, which affects the differentiation and migration of melanoblasts from the neural crest during the embryonic life."

Croak!ichi (talk) 20:21, 31 May 2022 (UTC)