Original article title: "Comparison of therapeutic efficacy of topical corticosteroid and oral zinc sulfate-topical corticosteroid combination in the treatment of vitiligo patients: a clinical trial"

Abstract

Background: Vitiligo is the most prevalent pigmentary disorder which occurs worldwide, with an incidence rate between 0.1-4 percent. It is anticipated that the discovery of biological pathways of vitiligo pathogenesis will provide novel therapeutic and prophylactic targets for future approaches to the treatment and prevention of vitiligo. The purposes of this study were evaluating the efficacy of supplemental zinc on the treatment of vitiligo.

Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted for a period of one year. Thirty five patients among 86 participants were eligible to entrance to the study. The patients in two equal randomized groups took topical corticosteroid and combination of oral zinc sulfate-topical corticosteroid.

Results: The mean of responses in the corticosteroid group and the zinc sulfate-corticosteroid combination group were 21.43% and 24.7%, respectively.

Conclusion: Although, the response to corticosteroid plus zinc sulfate was more than corticosteroid, there was no statistically significant difference between them. It appeared that more robust long-term randomized controlled trials on more patients, maybe with higher doses of zinc sulfate, are needed to fully establish the efficacy of oral zinc in management of vitiligo.

Trial registration: chiCTRTRC10000930.