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Background: Vitiligo is a disfiguring condition that can cause considerable psychological distress to patients. Vitiligo lesions on acral areas and joints are considered difficult to treat, and they are unsuitable for surgical treatment because of their poor response. There are few studies on the management of those lesions with noncultured epidermal cell suspension transplantation., Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of a modified procedure using noncultured epidermal cell suspension transplantation in the management of vitiligo lesions over acral areas and joints., Methods: We retrospectively analysed data for patients who had undergone non-cultured epidermal cell suspension transplantation for treatment of vitiligo. In total, 36 patients with 80 lesions over acral areas and joints were reviewed: 33 patients had generalized vitiligo, while the remaining three patients had focal vitiligo, and they had been followed up for 6-18 months., Results: Of the 80 treated lesions, 51 had regained > 75% repigmentation and 23 had regained 50-75% repigmentation. The remaining six lesions, which were all no the distal fingers or toes and the ankle joint, had a poor response., Conclusions: Non-cultured epidermal cell suspension transplantation was successful in producing some degree of repigmentation in our patients, and could be a useful therapy for vitiligo lesions., (© The Author(s) CED © 2013 British Association of Dermatologists.)

Background: Vitiligo is a cosmetically disfiguring acquired depigmenting disorder caused by the loss of functional melanocytes from the epidermis. Various approaches that have been used for the treatment of vitiligo can be classified as medical and surgical therapies. Noncultured autologous melanocyte transplantation is a new and effective surgical treatment for stable vitiligo., Objectives: To compare the repigmentation results in stable vitiligo of transplantation of autologous noncultured melanocytes suspended in normal saline with that of those suspended in the patient's own serum., Methods and Materials: Twenty-five patients with 36 lesions of stable vitiligo were randomized into two groups for noncultured melanocyte transplantation. Patients in Group A received melanocytes suspended in normal saline, and those in Group B received melanocytes suspended in their own serum., Results: Statistically significant difference in repigmentation results and reduction in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) score was observed between the two groups 16 weeks after surgery. Repigmentation results were excellent (>90%) and very good to excellent (>75%) in 44.4% and 66.7% of lesions, respectively, in Group A and 88.8% and 94.4% of lesions, respectively, in Group B. There was also a significant (p=.002) decline in DLQI score in both groups, with the mean reduction being significantly greater in Group B than Group A (p=.005)., Conclusion: Results of noncultured melanocyte transplantation can be improved significantly more by suspending the melanocytes in the patients' autologous serum than in normal saline. This could be an important innovation in the surgical management of patients with stable vitiligo., (© 2011 by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Inc.)