Original article title: "Comparison of therapeutic efficacy of topical corticosteroid and oral zinc sulfate-topical corticosteroid combination in the treatment of vitiligo patients: a clinical trial"

Abstract

BackgroundVitiligo is the most prevalent pigmentary disorder which occurs worldwide, with an incidence rate between 0.1-4 percent. It is anticipated that the discovery of biological pathways of vitiligo pathogenesis will provide novel therapeutic and prophylactic targets for future approaches to the treatment and prevention of vitiligo. The purposes of this study were evaluating the efficacy of supplemental zinc on the treatment of vitiligo.MethodsThis randomized clinical trial was conducted for a period of one year. Thirty five patients among 86 participants were eligible to entrance to the study. The patients in two equal randomized groups took topical corticosteroid and combination of oral zinc sulfate-topical corticosteroid.ResultsThe mean of responses in the corticosteroid group and the zinc sulfate-corticosteroid combination group were 21.43% and 24.7%, respectively.ConclusionAlthough, the response to corticosteroid plus zinc sulfate was more than corticosteroid, there was no statistically significant difference between them. It appeared that more robust long-term randomized controlled trials on more patients, maybe with higher doses of zinc sulfate, are needed to fully establish the efficacy of oral zinc in management of vitiligo.Trial RegistrationchiCTRTRC10000930

Role of Corticosteroids in Treatment of Vitiligo

“…For the first time, as a hypothesis, Bagherani and colleagues suggested that there might be association between this glycoprotein and vitiligo, which should be confirmed (Bagherani, 2011(Bagherani, , 2012aBagherani et al, 2011;Yaghoobi et al, 2011a).…”

“…For the first time, Bagherani and colleagues revealed that oral zinc can be effective in treatment of vitiligo Yaghoobi et al, 2011a).…”

“…It seems that more robust long-term randomized controlled trials with more patients, maybe with higher doses of oral zinc are necessary to confirm the efficacy of oral zinc in treatment of vitiligo (Yaghoobi et al, 2011a).…”

“…Vitiligo is the most frequent pigmentary disorder Nazer et al, 2011;Yaghoobi et al, 2011a; as cited in Wolff et al, 2007). It is an acquired, idiopathic and progressive skin disease Shameer et al, 2005;Yaghoobi et al, 2011a), characterized by sharply demarcated depigmented lesions on any part of the body .…”

“…It is an acquired, idiopathic and progressive skin disease Shameer et al, 2005;Yaghoobi et al, 2011a), characterized by sharply demarcated depigmented lesions on any part of the body . This disease can also affect hair and mucosal areas such as mouth and genitalia (Gawkrodger et al, 2010).…”