Finding joy again for vitiligo patients

Break up with inferiority complex

At the age of 7, the first white spot suddenly appeared on the corner of PTH's face. Thinking that her child had pityriasis versicolor, H's parents bought topical and oral medications for her, but they were ineffective. Over time, the white spot quickly spread into a white patch that covered part of her cheek. After being taken to the hospital for examination, H was diagnosed with vitiligo.

Doctor examines a patient with vitiligo.

The disease does not cause H pain but brings a lot of trouble during puberty. Malicious teasing about her appearance makes her feel self-conscious, her life becomes more and more closed, limiting contact with people around her.

Two years ago, H went to the Central Dermatology Hospital for examination. Here, the doctor determined that H had segmental vitiligo, and was eligible for autologous epidermal cell transplantation without culture combined with phototherapy.

After the successful surgery, H was combined with ultraviolet rays to increase the effectiveness. Over time, the skin pigmentation miraculously recovered, replacing all the vitiligo skin. For H, a new life began when her face no longer had many traces of vitiligo.

Like H, D.KT (20 years old, in Hanoi ) also lived with an inferiority complex for 5 years when her face had a patch of vitiligo extending from her lips down to her chin and neck. In 2022, T was assigned to undergo autologous epidermal cell transplantation. When meeting T again 18 months after the transplantation, no one could see any trace of vitiligo on her face.

Dr. Do Thi Thu Hien, Head of the Vitiligo Group, Central Dermatology Hospital, said that vitiligo is a pigmentation disorder of the skin and mucous membranes characterized by white spots with reduced or lost pigmentation. These white spots can appear anywhere on the body, commonly on the back of the hands, face, forearms, and genital area.

Vitiligo is not a contagious or dangerous disease, but it causes a loss of confidence for the patient. In the world and in Vietnam, people with vitiligo account for about 0.5 - 2% of the population.

Can it be cured completely?

Dr. Hien added that vitiligo is a chronic and autoimmune disease. Therefore, vitiligo patients are not easy to treat, but the response rate to treatment is quite high.

Vitiligo is a chronic, autoimmune disease that is not dangerous but makes the patient lose confidence.

There are many methods of treating vitiligo, typically topical medications and phototherapy. Regarding phototherapy, in addition to local and whole-body UVB light therapy, the Central Dermatology Hospital also uses lamp-type examiners and laser examiners.

For patients with progressive vitiligo, there will be systemic treatments based on the mechanism of vitiligo as an autoimmune disease, using immunosuppressive drugs.

For patients with stable vitiligo, the hospital has performed skin grafting and epidermal surgery. Notably, the epidermal cell grafting surgery method is very effective.

Sharing more about the autologous cell transplantation solution, Dr. Hoang Van Tam, Deputy Head of the Department of Daytime Inpatient Treatment, Central Dermatology Hospital, said that this is a method using epidermal cells including: melanocytes, spinous cells, and some stem cells of the body itself to graft into vitiligo lesions.

Doctors take skin from the hip or front thigh area at a ratio of 1/5 (for example, if the vitiligo area that needs to be grafted is 10cm², then 2cm² need to be taken from the front thigh area). If the lesion is large, this ratio can be 1/10. This piece of skin will be put into a solution, through the steps of separating the epidermal cells, nourishing, counting the cells, then grafting them onto the vitiligo skin area. The grafted cells will be fixed with gauze and removed within a week.

The above method is indicated for patients with stable vitiligo for at least one year (within one year there are no new lesions or old lesions do not spread); No Kobner phenomenon (no vitiligo lesions appear in the trauma area) and no history of keloid scars due to trauma. The method is most effective for people with stable segmental and lateral vitiligo, after transplantation combined with phototherapy treatment, the effectiveness can be up to 70-90%.

Doctor Do Thi Thu Hien warned that many patients who came to the Central Dermatology Hospital for examination and treatment had allergic contact dermatitis and irritant contact dermatitis, because before coming to the hospital, the patients had sought folk remedies such as topical medications and patches of unknown ingredients. Or the patients may have taken unsafe herbal medicines that could affect their health, cause systemic allergies, or affect liver and kidney function.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/tim-lai-niem-vui-cho-benh-nhan-bach-bien-19224041609114341.htm