Azathioprine
A new protocol for treating vitiligo has been found in a study which outlined a course of treatment with Azathioprine, an immunosuppressant drug, for vitiligo treatment.
This new protocol is somewhat controversial because it does not follow the standard path of oral steroids and ultraviolet light therapy. However, the study showed that this new protocol had a higher rate of repigmentation than previous studies at 87 percent, which impressed many other doctors who were skeptical about the approach. Additionally, contrary to what one might expect from an immunosuppressant drug, patients treated with Azathioprine had fewer side effects than those treated with oral steroids or phototherapy.
A brief explanation of how this treatment works is as follows: vitiligo is thought to be caused by an autoimmune response in which melanocytes are attacked by T-cells and macrophages, thus leading to their death. By taking Azathioprine, which suppresses the immune system, the body will have less chance of attacking melanocytes themselves. In the aforementioned study, patients treated with Azathioprine had a higher rate of repigmentation than those not. This is likely because the drug reduced the immune system’s ability to attack melanocytes in the skin, allowing more time for new cells to grow and replace old ones.
