Repigmentation of vitiligo with autologous blister-induced epidermal grafts

Abstract

Treatment of vitiligo can sometimes be difficult and disappointing. PUVA treatments give fairly good results. However, acral regions like the hands or feet or areas over bony prominences like the elbow, are resistant to PUVA. Blister-induced epidermal grafts have been used to repigment vitiligo skin. This study was carried out on patients with vitiligo areas unresponsive to either PUVA treatments or who had segmental vitiligo. PUVA treatments were resumed after skin grafting. Twenty-five patients with stable vitiligo were grafted with blister-induced epidermal grafts. Up to 70% of the whole vitiligo areas were grafted in one sitting. A total of 105 grafts were done. In 9 grafts, no repigmentation was seen. The remaining 96 grafts resulted in pigmentation. Twelve had partial and 84 had complete repigmentation. No Koebner phenomenon was noted in both the recipient sites or the donor sites. Blister-induced epidermal graft is an effective alternative to repigment stable vitiligo areas. It is easy to do and results are good. In this study, 96 out of 105 (91%) grafts had repigmentation.