BACKGROUND: Little information is available on effective treatments for progressive macular hypomelanosis (PMH). To our knowledge, only one case of narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) therapy as an efficient treatment for patients with PMH has been reported in the recent literature. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the clinical features of PMH in Koreans and to determine the therapeutic efficacy of NB-UVB therapy in the management of PMH. METHODS: We performed an uncontrolled prospective study designed to evaluate the usefulness of NB-UVB therapy in PMH. A total of 23 patients with PMH were enrolled in the study. Of these, 17 patients underwent treatment with NB-UVB therapy once or twice weekly and were eligible for analysis. The remaining 6 patients were lost to follow-up before completion of the treatment. Repigmentation was evaluated by two dermatologists using photographic documentation. RESULTS: In our trial, NB-UVB therapy was used successfully in 9 of 16 patients (56.2%), who showed more than 90% repigmentation. We found that 13 of 16 patients (81.3%) experienced at least 50% repigmentation. The repigmented sites showed an excellent color match. No signs of recurrence have been detected in 11 of these 16 patients (68.7%) up to the present time (13.2 ± 8.2 months of follow-up). LIMITATIONS: Our study includes a small number of subjects examined, and it was an uncontrolled and non-double-blind study. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that NB-UVB therapy is an effective and safe method for use in the treatment of PMH.
BACKGROUND: Little information is available on effective treatments for progressive macular hypomelanosis (PMH). To our knowledge, only one case of narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) therapy as an efficient treatment for patients with PMH has been reported in the recent literature. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the clinical features of PMH in Koreans and to determine the therapeutic efficacy of NB-UVB therapy in the management of PMH. METHODS: We performed an uncontrolled prospective study designed to evaluate the usefulness of NB-UVB therapy in PMH. A total of 23 patients with PMH were enrolled in the study. Of these, 17 patients underwent treatment with NB-UVB therapy once or twice weekly and were eligible for analysis. The remaining 6 patients were lost to follow-up before completion of the treatment. Repigmentation was evaluated by two dermatologists using photographic documentation. RESULTS: In our trial, NB-UVB therapy was used successfully in 9 of 16 patients (56.2%), who showed more than 90% repigmentation. We found that 13 of 16 patients (81.3%) experienced at least 50% repigmentation. The repigmented sites showed an excellent color match. No signs of recurrence have been detected in 11 of these 16 patients (68.7%) up to the present time (13.2 ± 8.2 months of follow-up). LIMITATIONS: Our study includes a small number of subjects examined, and it was an uncontrolled and non-double-blind study. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that NB-UVB therapy is an effective and safe method for use in the treatment of PMH.
Authors: Rolf L W Petersen; Christian F P Scholz; Anders Jensen; Holger Brüggemann; Hans B Lomholt Journal: Eur J Microbiol Immunol (Bp) Date: 2017-02-27