Comparative Study between Ultraviolet-B Phototherapy Alone and Ultraviolet-B  Phototherapy with Topical Tacrolimus in the Treatment of Vitiligo

Abstract

Objective: To compare the combined effect of Ultraviolet-B plus Tacrolimus Vs Ultraviolet-B alone in the treatment of Vitiligo. Study Design: Randomized-controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05577637). Place and Duration of Study: Department of Dermatology, Combined Military Hospital, Abbottabad Pakistan, May to Nov 2021. Methodology: Sixty patients aged 20-60 years were enrolled. Patients in Group-A applied 0.03% topical Tacrolimus twice daily on body and 0.01% Tacrolimus twice daily on face with UVB phototherapy thrice weekly. In Group-B only UVB was given thrice weekly for depigmented patches at a dose of 0.021 j/cm2 after calculating minimal erythema dose and it was incremented by 10% at every visit. The treatment efficacy was determined as percentage of re-pigmentation monthly for three months. By following up categorizing re-pigmentation as excellent (>75%) to poor (0.05). The majority 19(63.4%) of Group-A patients and 23(76.7%) Group-B patients had 1-10% depigmentation level and rest of patients had greater than 11%. While comparing the efficacy Group-A 17(56.7%) patients responded effectively as compared to 08(26.7%) patients in Group-B (p-value <0.05). Conclusions: When compared to UVB alone, the combined effect of UVB plus Tacrolimus 0.03% for body and 0.01% for face, was significantly greater than Tacrolimus alone.

Keywords

• Phototherapy, Tacrolimus, Ultraviolet-B phototherapy, Vitiligo.