engleski

Vitiligo treatment: a need for evidence-based approach and guidelines - Croatian experience

Vitiligo, an acquired depigmentation disorder, because of its impressive clinical presentation has a large impact on psychosocial life of patients. Although the exact etiopathogenesis still remains uncertain, several therapeutic options are available for treatment of this condition. Unfortunately, patients are often confronted with difficulties regarding to receiving suitable therapy.Because of the fact that vitiligo is not contagious and not life-threatening disease, physicians usually do not recognize patients’ problems and consider vitiligo as only a cosmetic problem, which should be treated only by camouflage and sun protection products. Also, because of the lack of the accurate information for patients, a widely open market for different kind of alternative questionable therapies occurs. The need for widely accepted consensus concerning vitiligo treatment and establishment of the therapeutic guidelines exists worldwide. Our aim was to introduce for the first time vitiligo therapy guidelines in Republic of Croatia, based on the evidence-based accepted vitiligo therapy world recommendations and our experience.We present a review of therapy for vitiligo regarding to various vitiligo types and severity of lesions. Currently available treatment modalities can be divided into several groups: topical therapy, systemic therapy, phototherapy, climatotherapy and surgical treatments. Topical therapy is based on the use of three group of drugs: corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors and vitamin D3 analogs. Systemic steroids, administered as pulsed treatment, show good results in reducing the activity of vitiligo as well as perorally administered antioxidants, in combination with other therapeutic options. Narrowband UVB phototherapy is the gold standard for vitiligo because of its increased effectivity among other phototherapies. Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea has been established as the therapy which acquires the most successful clinical outcomes in a short period of time.

vitiligo; therapy

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