Vitiligo treatments

Post your questions regarding vitiligo here.

Moderator: talkhealth

Locked
2 posts
kerrywalker
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:41 pm
Quote

by kerrywalker on Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:40 pm

Vitiligo treatments

Hi. I would be really interested to know about any new recent treatments. I had light therapy back when I was diagnosed which helped to a degree. I've also had the steroid creams but they didn't really help.
Is there likely to ever be a cure?

I've also found that the veil camouflage creams all tend to be the wrong colour and I struggle to find a match as I am very olive skinned.

User avatar
Dr Emma Wedgeworth
Posts: 154
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:26 am
Quote

by Dr Emma Wedgeworth on Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:32 pm

Re: Vitiligo treatments

Hi Kerry,
Thanks for your questions.

We do still use light therapy (phototherapy) as one of our main treatments for vitiligo. If you had it many years ago, you may benefit from another course of treatment, so might be worth checking with your doctor. We also routinely use alternatives to steroid creams - topical calcineurin inhibitors (protopic or elidel) - particularly on facial vitiligo.

If the vitiligo is stable, surgical options might be open to you. Removing the top layer of affected skin and then moving skin from unaffected areas can be helpful.

There are also some really exciting progress being made in clinical trials. A new class of medicines known as JAK inhibitors have shown great promise in vitiligo - both as creams and tablets. Research is also getting to the bottom of the immune cause of vitiligo which will help us to find new ways to target the condition. Professor John Harris in the US is doing a lot of research on this, so good to check him out. Unfortunately no cure yet, but a log of progress.
https://www.umassmed.edu/vitiligo/

Regarding the Veil. I would suggest you book another appointment with a camouflage expert through Changing FAces and discuss which products are best.

I hope that helps,
Best wishes,
Emma
Dr Emma Wedgeworth
Consultant Dermatologist & BSF spokesperson

http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... eworth.php

Locked
2 posts