Task force updates vitiligo guidelines

Bordeaux, France - New guidelines for treating vitiligo cite phototherapy and combination therapy as the most effective management techniques.

The updated guidelines were written by the Vitiligo European Task Force, in collaboration with the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology and the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes, Medscape reports.

For segmental vitiligo or limited nonsegmental vitiligo, the task force recommended avoiding triggering factors and using local agents such as corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors as first-line treatments. Second-line treatments should involve localized narrowband ultraviolet B radiation (311 nm), preferably with an excimer monochromatic lamp or laser, the guidelines state. For third-line therapy on patients with cosmetically unsatisfactory repigmentation even after first- and second-line treatments, the task force suggested considering surgical techniques.

 “Vitiligo is a disease lacking definitive and completely effective therapies,” wrote A. Taïeb, M.D., of Service de Dermatologie, in Bordeaux. “Phototherapy and combined treatments are the most effective treatments. Therapy should stop the progression of the lesions and provide complete or almost complete repigmentation to be satisfactory for the patient.”

The guidelines were published online Aug. 3 in the British Journal of Dermatology.

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