Comparison of Melanocytes Transplantation Methods for the Treatment of Vitiligo

BACKGROUND: Surgical therapy of vitiligo is indicated when depigmented macules are localized in areas that are known to respond poorly. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to compare the results of treatment of vitiliginous macules localized in the dorsum of the hands and lower limbs by transplantation of cultured autologous melanocytes plus PUVA therapy (CMP), suction blister transplantation plus PUVA therapy (SBP), cryotherapy plus PUVA therapy (CP), and only PUVA therapy (OP). METHODS: Twenty patients qualified for the study. The patients were split into two groups of 10 patients. In the first group, the CMP procedure was performed on one limb and OP on the other. In the second group, SBP and CP were used, respectively. RESULTS: The CMP procedure was successfully performed on only 6 of 10 patients, whereas SBP was carried out on all 10 patients. No significant difference was found between the number of successful transplants in both groups of patients. A total lack of effectiveness was found in CP and OP methods. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the advantage of the suction blister transplantation method over the autologous cultured melanocytes transplantation method because of the difficulties in cell culture establishment in some cases.