Journal of Clinical & Experimental Dermatology Research
Open Access

Evolution of surgical management of vitiligo: From tissue grafts to cellular grafts

5^th International Conference on Clinical & Experimental Dermatology

July 13-15, 2015 New Orleans, USA

Anil Budania

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Dermatol Res

Abstract :

Vitiligo commonly known as leukoderma is an acquired disorder of pigmentation due to loss of melanocytes from basal layer of epidermis. Although vitiligo is a disease of unknown etiology, therapy and prognosis have improved remarkably during the past few decades after unraveling most of the histological, biochemical, immunological and molecular events occurring within and around the pigment cell. Surgical attempts to treat a disease that appeared initially as an exclusive medical condition began in the middle of 20th century and different approaches and refinement have been successfully reported since then. A number of surgical treatments are available including autologous thin thiersch grafting, suction blister epidermal grafting, autologous minipunch grafting, autologous cultured melanocyte grafting, autologous non-cultured epidermal cell suspension grafting and many more. Tissue grafting techniques are very simple and effective methods of vitiligo surgery requiring no laboratory setup. However, it has few a drawbacks as it requires a large amount of donor skin and postoperative hyper pigmentation and perilesional halo are more common. Cellular grafting techniques are more refined methods of vitiligo surgery requiring minimal donor skin and covering maximal recipient area. Excellent color match, minimal postoperative discomfort and higher patient satisfaction rates are other advantages of cellular grafting techniques. But in recent times, cellular grafting techniques are becoming more favorable because of less sophistication, easy availability, lower costs and better outcomes. Among the various cellular grafting techniques, non-cultured epidermal cell suspension is the most widely practiced method. Soon we hope to formulate guidelines regarding the preferred method of vitiligo surgery for a particular type of vitiligo.