Guidelines

What is the best treatment for vitiligo?

What is the best treatment for vitiligo?

Topical corticosteroids are most effective on small, newly depigmented areas. Potent topical corticosteroids can be used on the face, with ultrapotent steroids reserved for the body. Corticosteroids have been shown to be effective in only 57% of adult patients and only 64% of childhood vitiligo patients.

What is psoralen used for?

Psoralens boost the amount of ultraviolet light your skin absorbs. This lets the light into your skin. The ultraviolet radiation helps treat severe skin diseases like psoriasis, vitiligo, polymorphic light eruption, and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer.

How can I stop active vitiligo?

Phototherapy with narrow band ultraviolet B (UVB) has been shown to stop or slow the progression of active vitiligo. It might be more effective when used with corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors. You’ll need therapy two to three times a week.

Which is the most effective treatment for vitiligo?

Current treatment modalities include psoralen with exposure to ultraviolet A (PUVA) radiation therapy, narrow-band UVB therapy, topical corticosteroids, depigmentation therapy with monobenzylether of hydroquinone, and surgical treatments (minigrafting, thin split-thickness grafting, suction blister grafting, micropigmentation).

Which is better for vitiligo UVB or PUVA?

 An open randomized study of treatment of 39 patients of generalized vitiligo with narrow-band UVB vs topical calcipotriol + PUVA vs PUVA therapy for 6-12 months.   J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2002;16(suppl S1):270.

How is UVB radiation used to treat vitiligo?

The mechanism of how UVB works in vitiligo is unknown. It is established that distinct UVB radiation wavelengths target particular chromophores in the skin, in particular keratinocytes and melanocytes in the epidermis and fibroblasts in the dermis, and facilitate the therapeutic mechanisms of the light depe nding on chromophore type and function.

Do you need goggles to treat vitiligo NBUVB?

Because female genitals are typically not exposed during treatment, shielding is not required. UVB has been implicated in the formation of cataracts (8), and therefore shielding with UVB-protective goggles is standard practice, however this prevents treatment of eyelids, with unsatisfactory results (9).