Clinical study of repigmentation patterns with either narrow-band ultraviolet B (NBUVB) or 308 nm excimer laser treatment in Korean vitiligo patients.

BACKGROUND

Various repigmentation patterns such as perifollicular, marginal, diffuse, and mixed configuration can occur in vitiligo. The aim of this study was to clinically assess the types of repigmentation patterns obtained with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NBUVB) phototherapy or targeted phototherapy using a 308 nm excimer laser and to reveal whether the repigmentation patterns have any relationship to the location of lesions, patient's age, duration of lesions, or speed of improvement.

METHODS

This study enrolled 51 patients who had effective responses as compared with baseline when treated with NBUVB alone and 52 patients who had effective responses as compared with baseline when treated with excimer laser alone. We evaluated the repigmentation patterns when the responses to treatments appeared.

RESULTS

The most frequent repigmentation pattern was the perifollicular type in both groups treated with NBUVB (42.2%) or excimer laser (51.3%), followed by marginal, diffuse, and combined, in that order. There was no significant difference in the repigmentation pattern according to the location of lesions, patient's age, or duration of lesions. The marginal pattern was predominant in both NBUVB and excimer laser-treated groups when excellent responses (more than 75% repigmentation achieved at 12 weeks) appeared.

CONCLUSIONS

The repigmentation patterns according to location, age, duration of lesions, and speed of response showed similarities in both the NBUVB and excimer laser-treated groups.