Re-pigmentation of Stable Vitiligo by Skin Transplantation
According to two articles in the October issue of The Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals; people who have stable vitiligo can achieve good re-pigmentation by transplanting their own skin from normally pigmented areas of the body.
These articles state that vitiligo is primarily the most common skin pigment disorders and about 1% of the world population is suffering from this skin disorder. Vitiligo’s psychosocial impact is often underestimated. There are several treatment methods for vitiligo but the standard treatment for vitiligo is UV light therapy and this therapy can last for several months. Transplantation of skin cells is another alternative option for the treatment of vitiligo.
Nanny van Geel, M.D., of Ghent University Hospital, Belgium, and colleagues researched about the effectiveness of using transplanted pigment cells to treat 28 patients with vitiligo. They divided patient into two groups: patients with stable vitiligo (no new de-pigmented patches in the past 12 months, n = 19) and patients with progressive vitiligo (n = 9). The researchers selected 33 pairs of de-pigmented skin patches on the patients, they randomly selected a patch and assigned it to be treated with grafted pigment cells and the other was given a sham transplant. They took this skin from normally pigmented area of the skin. After three weeks of the surgery, all patches were given UV light therapy twice a week for almost two months.
When the researchers analyzed the skin they found that there was a major difference between pigment cells graft sites and placebo graft sites after three, six and twelve months.
The results of this research were like this, one of the group of patients with stable vitiligo re-pigmentation of at least 70 percent of the treated area was achieved in 55 percent, 57 percent and 77 percent of the actively treated lesions at three, six and twelve months after treatment. Whereas in the other group re-pigmentation of at least 70 percent was not achieved at any time point, re-pigmentation was diffuse on 94 percent of responding patients.
The authors wrote that, “After a strict preoperative selection for disease stability, transplantation resulted in re-pigmentation of at least 70 percent of the treated area in most actively treated vitiligo lesions.”
In another research study conducted at the the Noble Clinic, Pune, India, Sanjeev V. Mulekar (M.D.) investigated the long-term effectiveness of skin cell transplantation in sixty seven vitiligo patients. He used a mixture of melanocytes (melanin producing cells) and keratinocytes (structural skin cells) taken from normally-pigmented area on the patients’ own bodies. Patients were followed up for five years.
Dr. Mulekar found that 41 patients (which were 84 percent of the total) with segmental vitiligo had 95 percent to 100 percent re-pigmentation in the treated areas. In patients with focal vitiligo, 73 percent showed an excellent response at the end of their respective follow-up period. “Melanocyte-keratinocyte cell transplantation is a simple, safe, and effective surgical therapy,” Dr. Mulekar writes. “Patients with segmental and focal vitiligo can experience a prolonged disease-free period, which may extend through the rest of their lives.”
Source: http://www.archdermatol.com