Transplantation of autologous minigrafts for the treatment of stable vitiligo

Abstract

Background: Surgical treatment of vitiligo is indicated when lesions are localized in poorly responding areas. Various surgical procedures are used to treat stable vitiligo with an inherited shortage in each one. Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of the treatment of transplantation of autologous minigrafts for (local and generalized) stable vitiligo. Methods: Eight patients (three males and five females) with stable vitiligo qualified for the study. They were treated with autologous minigrafts after ultrapulsed carbon dioxide laser abrasion. Results: Seven patients showed excellent to good repigmentation with an average of 84.4% coverage of the treated patches. One patient had a poor response after at least 6 months of follow-up. Conclusions: Autologous minigrafts with ultrapulsed carbon dioxide laser abrasion appear to have the potential to achieve complete repigmentation in patients with stable vitiligo who fail to respond to medical treatments.

Key words::

• minigrafts
• transplantation
• vitiligo

Acknowledgement

This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 30671896) and a grant from the Board of Health, Hangzhou City (no. 0070433Q01).

I am extremely thankful to Professor Yule Wu for his help and guidance.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.