Comparative study of noncultured epidermal cell suspension and postage stamp skin grafting in stable vitiligo

Abstract

Background: Vitiligo is an acquired primary depigmentary disorder, with a worldwide prevalence of 1%. Up to 80% of patients respond to medical treatment but for the rest of the patients, surgical methods are the treatment options. There is a scarcity of comparative studies of different surgical techniques in vitiligo. Aims: This article compares the efficacy of noncultured epidermal cell suspension (NCES) and postage stamp skin grafting in stable vitiligo. Methods: It was an experimental analytical study conducted over a period of 2 years. Two lesions in each patient were selected and those two lesions in each individual were randomized between Group A (NCES) and Group B (postage stamp grafting technique). Forty lesions in the 20 patients were divided into two groups − Groups A and B comprising of 20 lesions in each were taken up for surgery with two different procedures, that is, NCES and postage stamp grafting, respectively. Digital photographs were taken at every sitting. An analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann–Whitney tests and grading was done for response in the form of repigmentation as excellent (>75%), good (50%–75%), fair (25%–50%), and poor (<25%). Results: The patients included in the study belonged to different strata of society. Postage stamp split skin grafting being a simple and cost-effective technique showed excellent repigmentation in 19/20 (95%) of lesions as compared to NCES in which it was only seen in 13/20 (65%) lesions at the end of study over the period of 12 weeks. Conclusion: Postage stamp skin grafting is easy to perform, relatively inexpensive, and shows early and better results with minimum complications than NCES.