Pigment Loss

[killerz298]

My chocolate lab seems to be losing the pigment around his nose. I took him to the vet when it was localized to one side of his face and she said that there is no redness, crustiness, or inflammation and she said it could possibly be an allergic reaction to something. She also said it isn't unheard of to see spontaneous pigment loss. She gave me an antihistamine and said that the pigment might never return. She said to bring him back in if it gets worse after the medication was finished and she would do more extensive tests. It has since spread to the other side of his face but still seems to be localized to the area directly below his nose. I am going to bring him back in this week to have it checked out.

Have any of you seen something like this before? Any idea as to what it could be. The are seems perfectly normal and healthy besides the lack of brown color.

 

[noludoru]

It's pretty normal. You see pigment loss (or gain) in dogs with white on their faces or muzzles quite frequently, and tons of labs - especially the yellows and chocolates - lose their pigment permanently or with the seasons. It's called "snow nose," I believe.

 

[UniquityBelgians]

Does he have any plastic water dishes or plastic toys? I'd remove those immediatly. Those can cause pigment loss. Try a food switch and add sea kelp to his diet (they make kelp products for dogs, you should be able to find some at your local pet supply store). Good luck, I hope you manage to fix it.

ETA: Read up on vitiligo. I don't know the other symptoms but pigment loss (usually on the muzzle, nose and face) is what you'll see.

 

[Zoom]

That looks more like the beginnings of vitiglio than snow nose. Snow nose would be affecting the pigment of the nose itself, not on the sides like that and typically is a winter condition that reverses itself when the warmer weather and sun comes back around.

Just be sure to put some dog-safe sunscreen on that area if you're going to be outside for long periods of time and keep an eye on it. Vitiglio is somewhat of an immune system thing, so if it ends up spreading a lot, you might end up having more issues than just needing to coat SPF on your dog before they go outside.

 

[MicksMom]

That looks like a reaction of some kind to me, too.

...and tons of labs - especially the yellows and chocolates - lose their pigment permanently or with the seasons. It's called "snow nose," I believe.

Kind of- snow nose gradually gets "worse" as time goes on. Our Sibe/GSD stared with just a pink stripe up the center of his nose. Within a few years, his entire nose would be pink in the winter, and grey (instead of black) in the summer. Caleb's snow nose has gotten worse over the years, too. His is "bad" enough that his loses pigment on his eye rim, too. Funny thing is, it's common belief that snow nose is brought on by the change in sunlight, etc during the cold months. Last summer I noticed Caleb's nose would get lighter when he was swimming in his pool, then darken back up again once we were back inside.

 

[killerz298]

You can't see in the picture but his actual nose is fine. No pigment loss there or on the top, just on the sides and under his nose and his lips (if they are lips) and inside his mouth (not sure if the inside of his mouth was always colored like that though as it is more pink than white like the rest of the affected skin.)

He uses stainless steel bowls in a plastic base so that shouldn't be an issue as he isn't rubbing against the plastic. The only other plastic thing he came into contact with (besides his nylabones which he has had for years) has been taken away over a week and half ago but it still seems to be slowly spreading. His food is the same as it has been the past 4 years and nothing new has really been introduced to his environment. He doesn't seem itchy or bothered in anyway either and the antihistamine didn't seem to have any effect.

I just got back from the vet again and she isn't sure exactly what is going on. She did some blood work just to be safe but didn't think a skin scraping was necessary as the skin looks perfectly healthy (just pigment-less.) She said it could be normal spontaneous pigment loss, it could be vitiligo, or it could possibly be the early stages of discoid lupus erythematosus. After the blood work comes back she is going to decide if we should do a biopsy, just start him on doxycycline, or just see if the spread slows down. She really doesn't want to just give him the medication as it suppresses the immune system and she doesn't want to do an unnecessary biopsy either.

It is a shame as he was one handsome man. Hopefully all is well health wise and pigment loss is the worst of the issue.