Vitiligo and pepperine test

I have vitiligo (and hyperpigment) and I read some studies on a vit forum about pepperine (black pepper component) repigmenting in tests.  Then it was ignored.

I decided to make my own cream with the essential oil of black pepper, which I found is used commonly with other oils and medication creams to assist other ingredients in penetrating.  I thought it would burn, but felt more like wintergreen oil, which I sometimes use in oils. Anyway, I bought some cream base, unscented, and mixed it with the pepperine oil and it has caused the vit to become pink (generally a good sign, a step toward repigging).  I wasn't so afraid because it is often used in massage oils and other types of oils and creams.  I also found people take huge pepperine pills as an herbal supplement (for what, I don't know).

If nothing else, it seems to be helping my circulation and might at least be a good ingredient for a homemade arthritis cream, since it doesn't stink like camphor or smell as much as wintergreen oil (which must be used sparingly).  For those with white patches or vit. I'll let you know if it works.

Just out of curiousity, do any of you make your own lotions or creams? The base I got for four bucks was really nice, unscented and containing good ingredients. Just wondered.

Thanks Ginny. I got a better response from the pepperine on my vitiligo areas than I did with a month or so of triamcinalone and protopic. I've read different things about vitiligo, there seems to be like three schools: genetic cause, endocrine cause, and autoimmune problem in the skin. I'm hoping my vit is stable now and that stimulation of the skin will help induce pigmentation again.

Yuck on the homemade cream on the ear stuff! I never made anything that attempted to heal anything. Modern antiseptics are pretty much better than anything I could make. My boyfriend showed me to use bread and milk, an old poultice that works good, but still I think neosporin is a pretty great thing!;) I did use an herbal called Schrieners on my horses and it worked great, they have a web site. On myself, I couldn't bear to use it. It has a lot of cayenne in it, which is really the most active ingredient, along with myrrh. My horses flinched and I couldn't bear to try it.

On the cream side, you can order the stuff online to make your own creams, which is nice if you have allergies. The cream base I bought was superior to bath and body works lotions and creams and I could add whatever fragrance I wanted. Postage is expensive though. Base creams or simple oils (my favorite is grapeseed--but it is so expensive now, you can get it in most supermarkets) can give you the moisture and bypass the allergy causing ingredients. I make a muscle rub that was taught to me by a quadriplegic in a health food store. It is much better than regular ben gay, though it can be greasy. If you have allergies to things like aloe and lanolin, it can be the way to go though. Make sure you put an ounce of good quality vitamin e oil in it as a preservative (you need to do that with all oils I think, that's why its an ingredient in so many lotions and oils, not because they care). Then add your fragrance oil--aromatherapy oil--and other ingredients. It's more expensive, ounce per ounce than buying something at big lots, but it is fresh,you know whats in it and you can customize it.