Childhood vitiligo: the effect of narrow-band ultraviolet B phototherapy

Vitiligo is an idiopathic acquired disorder characterized by depigmented macules or patches and affects ∼0.5–2% of the worldwide population, without any predilection in terms of sex or ethnicity. It usually begins in childhood or young adulthood. Many etiologic hypotheses have been postulated for vitiligo, including biochemical, neural, and autoimmune mechanisms. The most compelling of these suggests a combination of genetic and immunologic factors that interact and result in an autoimmune melanocyte destruction. Phototherapy using narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) with wave length 311–313 nm is considered the treatment of choice in vitiligo, even in childhood. The choice of NB-UVB phototherapy for the treatment of vitiligo has been reported since 1997. Previous studies showed that NB-UVB is a safe treatment for vitiligo in children. NB-UVB is considered more effective and better tolerated than psoralen plus ultraviolet A and shows more stable results.