Melagenina: a Cuban product: a new and effective drug for the treatment of vitiligo

ABSTRACT

From the moment the child begins its life outside the uterus the functions of a very important organ come to an end the placenta. The placenta is an organic structure that forms at the interface of the ovular membrane and the endometrium. After the fourth month of gestation it facilitates the exchange between the mother and the foetus, regulates its growth and develop - the execution of excretion functions. It was precisely in the human placenta that we found a new substance to cure Vitiligo (leucoderma) which has, since times immemorial, been treated with a group of chemicals of vegetable origin known as psoralenes. These chemicals are now produced synthetically. They are used topically o[r] administered orally together with exposure to sunlight. The results obtained with these treatments have shown them to be unsatisfactory and to have adverse side effects such as burns, gastritis, hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity. Vitiligo is a skin disease of unknown etiology which affects 1 percent of the world's population and has no specific treatment. It is characterized by the presence of whitish splotches of depigmented skin generally in the vicinity of articulations but also over the rest of the body. The depigmented skin areas are usually symetrically disposed and the onset of the condition is frequently associated with times of excessive emotional tension. It has not yet been categorically determined if victims of Vitiligo have any alteration of the neurocrine system or of their immune systems which might explain the correlation between the mental condition and the depigmentation of the skin which takes place as an immediate consequence