For 54-year-old Shanthi, who has vitiligo, it's not the condition itself that causes pain. It's her inability to hide it. At first, Shanthi, an African-American woman living in Detroit, Michigan, was able to easily hide her vitiligo because it was only on her lips. But it wasn't long before it started to spread and trigger discoloration in other parts of her body. While there's a widely held misconception that vitiligo only develops in African-Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health, it affects all skin colors equally. As the vitiligo spread, more people started to stare at Shanthi, placing a heavy emotional burden on her. But as she tells Medical Stories, she found the support she needed when she opened up to her family, especially her niece, Diamond. Later, Medical Stories visits Methi, another individual who developed a skin condition and spent nine years trying to find relief. Methi has chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), a condition in which red, itchy welts develop randomly all over her body, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The hives caused so much pain that she remembers "wishing I could scratch with a cheese grater." For almost a decade, Methi lived in despair, searching in vain for a treatment that would help her. But not only did she find relief, she also found a way to use her experience to give back to others. This episode also features in-depth commentary from renowned experts Richard H. Huggins, MD, Dermatologist, Henry Ford Health, and Jonathan Bernstein, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.