Childhood Vitiligo: Clinical Spectrum and Therapeutic Approaches

Childhood- and later-onset vitiligo have diverse epidemiologic and clinical characteristics

“…Among the different types of vitiligo, only the segmental type was more prevalent in the childhood group, as it has been reported elsewhere. 1,3,4 The rates of segmental vitiligo in children vary across studies from 4.6% 5 to 32.5%, 4 with more studies reporting a rate above 16%. 1,3,4,6,7,12,13 Later-onset vitiligo seems to progress faster than childhood disease.…”

“…1,4 However, thyroid dysfunction may be subclinical in children. 9,11 Furthermore, an increased incidence of autoantibodies without further evidence of disease has also been reported in children with vitiligo, 3,13 compared with healthy children, which suggests a propensity for autoimmune disease later in life.…”

“…1,3 The autoimmune/endocrine disease most frequently found is thyroid disease. A positive family history of thyroid disease has been described in 32% to 43% of children with vitiligo, 6,9 which is lower than the 59% of our study.…”

“…Even fewer have compared childhood-with later-onset vitiligo on clinical and epidemiologic grounds. 1,3,4,8 In this study, we provide an epidemiologic and clinical comparison between childhood-and lateronset vitiligo.…”

Suction Blister Grafting for Vitiligo

“…Overall mean repigmentation was 61% for children compared with 50% for adults. 7 The reason for this has not been fully elucidated. Perhaps, children have a more robust release of cytokines and growth factors, which stimulate melanocyte activity.…”