Can vitiligo be cured? How to treat it?

Vitiligo is a skin disease with an increasingly high incidence in recent years, which has attracted great attention from the general public. Although vitiligo does not pose a great threat to life safety, the impact on appearance it brings can cause a fatal psychological blow to people, making them become increasingly inferior. But can vitiligo be cured? How to treat it? Let’s take a look at the explanation below.

1. Medication

(1) Oral administration of psoralen and its derivatives such as methoxsalen followed by exposure to ultraviolet light.

(2 ) Long-term use of large doses of vitamins such as B vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin P.

(3) Treatments include drugs containing copper, such as 0.5% copper sulfate solution taken orally.

(4) The immunomodulator levamisole is taken orally, freeze-dried Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is injected intramuscularly, and bovine placenta is taken orally.

(5) Skin irritants are applied topically to cause inflammation of the skin and promote pigmentation. Commonly used ones include 30% psoralea corylifolia tincture, nitrogen mustard alcohol, phenol (pure carbolic acid), 25% to 50% trichloroacetic acid, and blister beetle tincture. This method is only suitable for small skin lesions, and blisters may appear on the lesions after application.

(6) Corticosteroids: Local packing treatment with various corticosteroids such as beclomethasone dipropionate ointment, halometasone cream, and triamcinolone urea ointment.

2. Surgery

Patients with stable skin lesions and no progression can undergo autologous epidermal transplantation if necessary.

3. Depigmentation therapy

It is suitable for those with large skin lesions that exceed more than half of the body surface area. 3% to 20% hydroquinone monobenzyl ether cream can be applied externally.

4. Physical therapy

Treatment is with narrow-wave ultraviolet light, long-wave ultraviolet light or 308nm excimer laser.

5. Traditional Chinese medicine prescription for vitiligo

(2) Compound pyrogallic acid tincture: (tar gallic acid 5.0, ichthyol 10.0, glycerin 1.0, 75% alcohol 84.0) or use 10,000/20,000 mustard gas ointment for external use.

(3 ) Cuscuta: Apply fresh Cuscuta to the affected area frequently several times a day, or mix it with 25% alcohol and apply it externally, then expose to ultraviolet light. Or use the Chinese medicine Angelica dahurica to make a 15% tincture and apply it externally.

(4) Chinese medicine: realgar powder 6g, sulfur 6g, realgar 6g, orpiment 1.5g, bletilla striata 9g, musk 0.9g, cinnabar 6g, white aconite 15g, borneol 0.9g. Grind into fine powder and apply with black vinegar.