Autologous epidermal grafting with PUVA-irradiated donor skin for the treatment of vitiligo

Background Epidermal autografting has been used to treat vitiligo. The pigmentation achieved at the recipient site can be variegated and incomplete compared with that of the surrounding normal skin, and sometimes remains that way for a fairly long time. Objective We investigated whether the clinical results from epidermal autografting are related to a change in the number of melanocytes. This was performed by counting the number of melanocytes in the epidermis obtained from biopsy and suction with and without psoralen plus UVA (PUVA) exposure of the donor sites before grafting. Methods The numbers of melanocytes in the epidermis were counted after staining with dopa. The epidermis from suction and biopsy was included. The biopsied specimen was treated with NaBr for dermo-epidermal separation before staining, whereas the epidermis obtained from suction was stained directly. Results The epidermis obtained from suction contained 40-60% of the number of melanocytes found in the biopsied epidermis. Melanocytes around the hair follicles seemed to be omitted. Treatment with PUVA 10-21 times caused the number of melanocytes to increase by 1.5-2 times the normal level with a promising clinical result. Conclusions The preparation of donor sites with PUVA before the treatment of vitiligo by epidermal autografting induced an increased number of melanocytes and improved the clinical result.