Stella Pavlides has vitiligo. It’s an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks the cells, called melanocytes, that give skin its color. She was 22 years old and studying to be a court reporter when she first developed unsightly white patches on her hands and feet, then around her mouth, eyes, arms, legs and groin.

“People say vitiligo doesn’t kill you, but it kills your spirit,” she told me. “Kids get stared at, spit on, beaten up.” Although the condition is most obvious and often most emotionally and socially devastating when it afflicts dark-skinned people, Ms. Pavlides said her disorder was painfully apparent on her light tawny Greek skin.

“I wouldn’t go out with my friends,” she told me. “I never went to the beach. I became a recluse. I even contemplated suicide. When I did go out in the summer in New York City, I wore long-sleeved tops, long pants and socks.”

When she wasn’t covered head to toe, she said, “People would stare at me and whisper to one another. They wouldn’t put money in my hands because they were afraid to touch me. I dropped out of school. How could I be a court reporter with vitiligo all over my hands?”