Surgical interventions safe, effective for vitiligo management: Study

Delhi: Surgical intervention is a safe and effective option for the management of refractory stable vitiligo, finds a recent review in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

According to the authors, an appropriate procedure should be recommended based on costs, site and size of the lesion, and patient age.

Surgical interventions are an essential part of the therapeutic arsenal, especially in stable and refractory vitiligo. However, treatment outcomes comparison between the different surgical procedures and their respective adverse effects has not been studied adequately. Considering this, Hyun Jeong, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, and colleagues aimed to investigate the reported treatment response following different surgical modalities in patients with vitiligo.

For the purpose, the researchers conducted a comprehensive search of the online databases from the date of database inception to April 18, 2020

Of the 1365 identified studies, a total of 358 articles were assessed for eligibility. A total of 117 studies were identified in which punch grafting (n = 19), thin skin grafting (n = 10), suction blister grafting (n = 29), noncultured epidermal cell suspension (n = 45), follicular cell suspension (n = 9), and cultured epidermal cell suspension (n = 17) were used.