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Ten years ago Dolly Brown was a typical-looking Maori woman with brown skin and dark hair.
Now she has bright white hair and luminous white skin.
The 72-year-old is in a small percentage of Kiwis to suffer from vitiligo, a condition where white skin patches develop due to loss of brown melanin pigmentation.
Dolly's so white she jokes about colouring herself so people can see her coming.
"I always paint my toenails, there's nothing else I can do, and I have to have my hair tinted... because if I didn't you couldn't see it."
Pictures of Dolly on her 60th birthday show her with dark skin and hair and she describes how she looks like her three daughters.
Shortly afterwards telltale white spots started to appear on her face.
The disease is not contagious or deadly but can leave sufferers feeling isolated and prone to skin cancer.
Dolly says she felt "terrible" when she was diagnosed in 1999.
Now she finds it safer to stay indoors because the sun burns her skin.
Even in winter she covers up in a hat and long trousers or long shirt.
"I have never worn a dress since I've been like this because my legs get burnt."
Her old outdoor haunts are well out of bounds too.
Dolly was initially able to tend to her garden using an umbrella for shelter but has resorted to working at night.
"The things I used to do, my fishing, gardening, I don't do them now.
"I live near the sea and I've always been a water person, now I can't go."
Even trips to town must be planned meticulously.
"I go into town first thing in the morning with my head down and a hat on.
"I have to be back here by 10am because then everything gets too hot. I stay indoors, my outside activity is limited."
She has had the windows of her Kaitaia kitchen and car tinted to stop the sun burning her skin.
Driving involves wrapping up in sunblock, scarf, and gloves to stop the sun burning her through the windscreen.
Even her sunglasses can reflect light onto her translucent skin and burn it.
The disease has forced her to limit visits to her beloved husband John's grave in Te Kao.
She has to wait until the sun has moved to a safe position in the sky.
The disease can be hereditary.
Dolly remembers her older brother, Kingi Neho, and her sister, Lucy Clark, also turning white and hopes none of her nine grandchildren gets the condition.
"I'm getting used to it, there's nothing else I can do about it and there's no use crying about it, it's not going to get fixed."
VITILIGO
Vitiligo derives from the Greek vitelius meaning calf, because the patches resemble white spots on a young cow.
Auckland dermatologist Dr Stephen Helander said the condition is caused by the body's immune system attacking pigment cells. It affects about 2 per cent of the population. It starts as patches on the face and hands, and, while it doesn't always spread, some sufferers become fully white.
Helander said sufferers could generally lead healthy lives but were more prone to skin cancer. Some cultures could find it socially isolating, particularly Indian women who may struggle to marry.
It is difficult to treat and there is no cure, although a steroid cream can help if used early enough. Ultraviolet light may also help but treatment can take up to two years and may not be permanent. Surgery is also an option. Anna Rushworth
