1. Efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy in treating non‐segmental stable vitiligo: A randomized self‐controlled clinical trial.
- Author
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Wang, Yuyi, Lin, Mao, Huang, Fang, Jia, Ruiling, Xu, Wei, He, Qi, Xiong, Qiong, Hu, Qin, Diao, Qingchun, and Liu, Zhaolan
- Abstract
Background: Vitiligo remains a challenging condition to treat. Fire needle therapy, a traditional Chinese medicine technique, has potential as an alternative therapeutic strategy. However, rigorous evidence on its efficacy is lacking. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy, alone and combined with topical tacrolimus ointment, for non‐segmental stable vitiligo. Methods: In this 6‐month randomized self‐controlled trial, 35 vitiligo patients were enrolled, providing three similar lesions each. Lesions were randomly allocated to receive fire needle monotherapy, 0.1% tacrolimus ointment monotherapy, or combined fire needle and tacrolimus ointment therapy. The main outcome was change in vitiligo surface area. Results: In total, 29 patients completed the 6‐month follow‐up. The combination therapy group showed significantly greater reductions in vitiligo surface area compared to monotherapy groups starting at months 4 and 5. By the end of the study, combination therapy resulted in remarkably higher repigmentation responses, with 89.7% of lesions showing at least mild (≥25%) repigmentation and 51.7% showing good (≥50%) repigmentation. This significantly exceeded the outcomes with topical tacrolimus ointment alone, which only achieved 6.9% mild response and 6.9% good response. Fire needle monotherapy also demonstrated steady repigmentation over time, with 69% of lesions attaining a mild response by month 6. Importantly, no major adverse events occurred. Conclusion: This study provides promising preliminary evidence supporting the use of fire needle therapy, alone or in combination with topical tacrolimus ointment, for inducing repigmentation in non‐segmental stable vitiligo. As a non‐pharmacological approach, fire needle therapy warrants further study as an alternative vitiligo treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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