ReportEfficacy, predictors of response, and long-term follow-up in patients with vitiligo treated with narrowband UVB phototherapy
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Patients
The study was open and uncontrolled and its protocol was approved by our scientific committee. Patients included in the study had at least 5% total body surface area affected. Patients who had received any UV treatment in the past or any other treatment for vitiligo during the past 6 months were excluded from the study. Patients with segmental vitiligo or a history of spontaneous repigmentation were also excluded. Other exclusion criteria were a history of photosensitivity or skin cancer.
NB-UVB phototherapy
All
Demographic data of patients
A total of 84 patients were recruited. Fourteen of them (16.7%) discontinued treatment after 1 to 8 months for personal reasons and despite showing, all of them, a response analogous to the mean response achieved at that time point by patients who continued the treatment. These patients were excluded from further analysis.
The demographic features of patients who completed the study are presented in Table I. There was no statistically significant difference in demographic data between patients
Discussion
NB-UVB phototherapy is an established treatment for vitiligo. Several studies have been published reporting its efficacy in different populations.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 In the current study, 34.4% of patients with lesions on the face and 7.4% of patients with lesions on the body achieved cosmetically acceptable repigmentation after up to 1.5 years of treatment (P < .0046). Many studies have reported better results for the face in comparison with the body.2, 3, 9, 11, 13
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Funding sources: None.
Conflicts of interest: None identified.
Presented at the 15th Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Rhodes, Greece, on October 4-8, 2006.