Treatment of Vitiligo with Blister Grafting Technique

Background: Surgical treatments of vitiligo are punch grafting, blister grafting, flip-top transplantation, split skin grafting, etc aiming at rebuilding of melanocytic population in those patients who do not respond to medical treatment . The objective of this study was determination of efficacy of blister grafting technique in the treatment of vitiligo. Methods: This study was done on 10 patients with vitiligo of face and /or distal extremities who had received different medical treatments including PUVA and had not responded, and their diseases were stable. Blister in recipient site was created by cryotherapy and in donor site by using vacuum device. Then donor site blister was transferred to the recipient site and both sites were covered by dressing. Results: 10 patients (8 females & 2 males) with mean age of 31.2±11.4 years entered the study. After 1-6 weeks, first signs of repigmentation were observed and after 4 months complete repigmentation occured in 7 patients (70%) In two patients, a repigmentation of more than 50% was observed while in one patient no pigmentation was seen which was related to errors in surgical technique. Conclusion: Blister grafting surgery in limited patches of vitiligo which have not responded to medical treatments gives excellent results of prolonged repigmentation without any scar formation.