Action of topical mometasone on the pigmented halos of micrografting in patients with vitiligo

BACKGROUND: Vitiligo is a prevalent skin pigmentation disorder worldwide. The treatments available still offer limited results to some patients. For patients with clinically stable vitiligo, melanocyte transplantation is an appropriate treatment option, and the technique of autologous punch grafting shows good repigmentation. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of topical mometasone on the halos of repigmentation after autologous punch grafting in patients with clinically stable vitiligo. METHODS: Between 2009 and 2010, 11 patients with clinically stable vitiligo (7 generalized, 2 focal and 2 segmental) underwent autologous punch grafting in the achromic patches. According to the clinical type of vitiligo, patients were instructed to use the corticosteroid ointment during 6 months, only on a few grafted lesions. In the first month, the mometasone ointment was used twice a day and after that just once. They were reassessed 1, 3 and 6 months after the procedure. Grafted halos were photographed and recorded using the software fotofinder. After 6 months, all the treated and untreated areas of the repigmentation halos were measured and analyzed comparatively. RESULTS: The median area of the repigmentation halos after 6 months of treatment with mometasone was larger (25,96 mm(2)) than the one of the untreated halos (13,86 mm(2)), showing a statistically significant difference (p = 0,026). CONCLUSION: In this study, the use of mometasone ointment increased the area of the repigmentation halos after punch grafting. However, this should be further investigated in larger samples in order to validate this positive action in the treatment of stable vitiligo.