Treatment of Post-Burn Leucoderma With Superficial Dermabrasion Followed by Suction Blister Epidermal Grafting: A...

Post-burn leucoderma patients remain the most challenging to treat because they have two distinct issues: textural changes and hypopigmentation that must be managed simultaneously. A variety of surgical techniques have been used with variable outcome. This prospective study evaluated the efficacy of superficial dermabrasion followed by suction blister epidermal grafting (SBEG) in post-burn leucoderma treatment. Twenty patients, 15 females and 5 males, ages ranging from 18 to 52 years, all having post-burn leucoderma ranging from 10 to 36 months, were included. The recipient sites were prepared by superficial dermabrasion. The Chinese cupping device was used for blister induction. Blister formation times, as well as the number of blisters, were noted. Complications, extent of the repigmentation, treatment efficacy and color matching were recorded. The mean time taken for blister formation was 91.75±10.29 min. The number of blisters harvested for each case ranged from 2 to 9. Regarding complications, 1 had partial graft loss, 3 developed perigraft halo at the recipient site, and all patients had temporary hyperpigmented circular macules at the donor sites. After a mean follow up period of 8.5±1.73 months, repigmentation percentage ranged from 40 to 100% with good color matching. Treatment efficacy was excellent in 3 cases (15%), good in 12 cases (60%), fair in 4 cases (20%), and poor in 1 case (5%). As regards patient satisfaction, 15 patients (75%) were satisfied, while 5 patients (25%) weren't. Combined superficial dermabrasion and SBEG appears to be a simple and cost-effective surgical treatment modality for localized post-burn leucoderma.