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Assessing effectiveness of adding niosomal atorvastatin 1% ointment to topical calcineurin inhibitor treatment in
Hamed Zartab1,2, Mahin Aflatoonian3, Simin Shamsi-Meymandi4
1Center for Research and Training in Skin Diseases and Leprosy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background:
Treatment of vitiligo is still a big challenge for dermatologists. The efficacy of statins in the treatment of vitiligo is controversial.
Aim And Objective:
We studied possible therapeutic effect of topical 1% niosomal atorvastatin ointment combined with topical 0.1% tacrolimus in treatment of non-segmental vitiligo.
Methods:
This is a triple blind, pilot, randomized placebo-controlled trial (RCT) that was performed in dermatology clinic. All the patients used topical 0.1% tacrolimus cream twice daily (BD). Moreover, the intervention group participants used topical 1% niosomal atorvastatin ointment, and control group participants were prescribed placebo ointment, BD. Patients were evaluated using vitiligo area surface index (VASI) score and patients' satisfaction at baseline and after 3 months treatment.
Results:
The mean patient satisfaction in the intervention and control groups were 5 ± 1.4 and 3.5 ± 1.9; the difference between groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.9). We found statistically significant difference in VASI score before and after treatment in both intervention and control groups (p = 0.01 and p = 0.03, respectively). However, comparison of the VASI score between groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.62). We also found no significant correlation between VASI score and other variables.
Conclusion:
The result of this study indicates that adding of niosomal atorvastatin 1% ointment to topical calcineurin inhibitor has no additional effect on non-segmental type of vitiligo. Further large studies with different combinations are recommended before any conclusive result can be concluded on efficacy of statins in vitiligo.
