Comparative study between efficacy of Excimer light with topical Tacrolimus 0.1% versus excimer light with topical Bimatoprost 0.01% in treatment of facial Vitiligo.

ABSTRACT

Loss and absence of melanocytes due to a number of factors is responsible for vitiligo; known to be the commonest disorder of pigmentation. The aim of the current work was to compare the efficacy and safety of excimer light with topical tacrolimus ointment 0.1% versus excimer light with topical bimatoprost gel 0.01% in treatment of facial vitiligo. The study was carried out on 48 patients presented with facial vitiligo. The patients were divided randomly using sealed envelope method into two groups (24 patients each). Group 1 were treated with excimer light plus topical tacrolimus ointment 0.1% and group 2 treated with excimer light plus topical bimatoprost gel 0.01%. Clinical improvement based on the quartile grading scale at the end of treatment did not show any statistically significant difference between groups. The majority of subjects in both groups experienced good to excellent improvement. Only 20.9% of patients in group 1 and 33.3% of subjects in group 2 achieved less than 50% repigmentation (p = 0.889). Our study demonstrated that 0.01% topical bimatoprost gel in combination with excimer light is considered safe and effective as treatment of nonsegmental facial vitiligo with comparable results to 0.1% tacrolimus.