Response to Narrow-band UVB – Vitiligo-melasma versus Vitiligo

A Comparative Study

Parikshit Sharma; Harsha S. Pai; Ganesh S. Pai; Maria Kuruvila; Reshma Kolar

Am J Clin Dermatol. 2011;12(2):127-132.

Conclusions

The results of our study show that patients with both vitiligo and melasma achieve earlier and more extensive repigmentation on the face and limbswithNB-UVB treatment compared with patients with vitiligo alone.

It is thus recommended that patients with both vitiligo and melasma with face or limb involvement are treated with NB-UVB phototherapy. A controlled study involving psoralen plus UVA may be conducted to see if treatment of patients with truncal vitiligo, with and without melasma, is superior to NB-UVB phototherapy alone.

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Acknowledgments
No sources of funding were used to conduct this study. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this study.

Table I. The response to therapy was assessed on the basis of area covered by pigmentation
Pigmentation (%)	Description
0	Totally depigmented
10	Specks of pigment
25	Depigmented area > pigmented area
50	Depigmented area = pigmented area
75	Depigmented area < pigmented area
90	Specks of depigmentation

Table II. Baseline characteristics of the patients
Characteristic	Vitiligo-melasma group (n = 18)	Vitiligo group (n = 21)
Males [n (%)]	7 (38.9)	7 (33.3)
Age of onset of vitiligo [y, n (%)]
11–20	0 (0)	8 (38.1)
21–30	4 (22.2)	7 (33.3)
31–40	1 (5.6)	4 (19.0)
41–50	7 (38.9)	2 (9.5)
51–60	6 (33.3)	0 (0)
Duration of disease [y, n (%)]
<1	5 (27.8)	4 (19.0)
1–3	7 (38.9)	9 (42.9)
4–6	2 (11.1)	5 (23.8)
7–10	3 (16.7)	2 (9.5)
>10	1 (5.6)	1 (4.8)
Associated systemic disorders [n (%)]
hyperthyroidism	0 (0)	1 (4.8)
hypothyroidism	2 (11.1)	1 (4.8)
diabetes mellitus	1 (5.6)	0 (0)

Table III. Comparison of facial pigmentation between groups. Values shown are percentages of patients
Repigmentation (%)	Vitiligo-melasma group (n = 18)			Vitiligo group (n = 21)
Repigmentation (%)	4wk	8 wk	12 wk	4wk	8 wk	12 wk
0	0	0	0	50.0	12.5	0
10	57.1	0	0	37.5	37.5	37.5
25	14.3	28.6	0	12.5	50.0	12.5
50	14.3	42.6	14.3	0	0	37.5
75	0	14.3	42.9	0	0	12.5
90	0	0	28.6	0	0	0
100	14.3	14.3	14.3	0	0	0

Table IV. Comparison of limb pigmentation between groups. Values shown are percentages of patients
Repigmentation (%)	Vitiligo-melasma group (n = 18)			Vitiligo group (n = 21)
Repigmentation (%)	4wk	8 wk	12 wk	4wk	8 wk	12 wk
0	0	0	0	45.5	9.1	0
10	36.4	9.1	9.1	45.5	63.6	45.5
25	54.5	36.4	0	9.1	18.2	36.4
50	9.1	36.4	18.2	0	9.1	9.1
75	0	18.2	36.4	0	0	9.1
90	0	0	36.4	0	0	0
100	0	0	0	0	0	0

Table V. Comparison of trunk pigmentation between groups. Values shown are percentages of patients
Repigmentation (%)	Vitiligo-melasma group (n = 18)			Vitiligo group (n = 21)
Repigmentation (%)	4wk	8 wk	12 wk	4wk	8 wk	12 wk
0	0	0	0	25.0	0	0
10	60.0	0	0	12.5	12.5	0
25	40.0	100.0	20.0	50.0	12.5	12.5
50	0	0	60.0	12.5	25.0	25.0
75	0	0	20.0	0	37.5	25.0
90	0	0	0	0	0	37.5
100	0	0	0	0	0	0

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