The effect of topical 5- fluorouracil ointment along with epidermal abrasion in treatment of vitiligo

  Vitiligo is a common idiopathic acquired cutaneous pigmentary disorder resulting in depigmented skin. A wide variety of therapeutic modalities have been employed for its treatment, but none of them are satisfactory, in this study we have tested the effect of 5- fluorouracil 5FU on 54 patients with documented vitiligo in Kerman city. The following treatments were performed on three selected vitiliginous lesions in each patient. A: only 5FU cream: B: epidermal abrasion and  C: topical 5FU followed by epidermal abrasion, 5FU was applied once daily for 7-10 days and epidermal abrasion was done on the first day by a strile sand paper. The clinical and medical response was evaluated at the end of the treatment, and two and six weeks latter. The results of this study showed the effect of three methods as follow: dermabrasion plus topical 5FU 81.5℅ topical 5FU 20.4℅, and dermabrasion 7.4℅ . In general the topical application of 5FU followed by epidermal abrasion is capable to regenerate pigmentation in the most patients suffering from vitiligo including segmental lesions ( p<0.001) . The therapeutic response appeared whiting a short time ( less than 2 months) . Therefore this treatment modality is recommended for localized vitiligo and probably for the segmental lesions.