Tattooing, a new hope for secondary leukoderma

A 10-year material of 1,000 post-burn patients have been reviewed. Dyschromia was found to be one of the commonest post-burn sequelae in both partial thickness and superficial burn. Patches of leukoderma surrounded by a zone of hyperpigmentation was the main feature in partial thickness burn, while hyperpigmentation follows superficial burn. Tattooing was tried on 30 patients as a permanent camouflage for leukodermic patches in exposed areas. Histological studies on 7 volunteers were carried out, showing the histological pattern of dyschromia and tattooing. The trial proved to be a success, though it still needs further refinement and improvement.