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Topical prostaglandin analog (PGE2) in vitiligo--a preliminary study
Davinder Parsad1, Roma Pandhi, Sunil Dogra
1Department of Dermatology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. dprs@satyam.net.in
Background:
Several therapeutic options are available for the treatment of vitiligo, but none is uniformly effective. Prostaglandin has been shown to play a role in melanocyte proliferation and melanogenesis. Topical application of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) over mice skin has been shown to increase melanocyte density.
Aim:
To evaluate the role of topical PGE2 in the treatment of vitiligo.
Methods:
We enrolled 27 patients with limited vitiligo lesions in this study. Patients were instructed to apply a translucent gel containing 0.5 mg/3 g (166.6 micro g/g) PGE2 to depigmented skin.
Results:
Twenty-four patients were evaluated at the end of 6 months, as three patients withdrew for reasons unrelated to the study. At the end of treatment, 15 patients showed marked to complete repigmentation and three patients showed moderate repigmentation. The remaining six patients showed none to minimal repigmentation.
Conclusions:
Marginal repigmentation with hyperpigmented borders was seen in the majority of lesions. Our results are encouraging and offer a new and potentially efficacious treatment for this pigmentation disorder.