The effect of NB‐UVB on noncultured melanocyte and keratinocyte transplantation in treatment of generalized vitiligo using two different donor‐to‐recipient ratios

Summary Background The melanocyte and keratinocyte transplantation procedure (MKTP) is a safe and effective procedure in treatment of vitiligo. Major advantage of this technique is that a small area of donor skin is needed to cover a large recipient area. To date, there is no consensus on the optimal donor‐to‐recipient ratio (D/R) required to achieve acceptable repigmentation following melanocyte and keratinocyte transplantation procedure (MKTP) in generalized vitiligo. It has been postulated that the addition of post‐transplantation phototherapy may enhance the results. This is first study to assess two different (D/R) ratios with or without adjuvant phototherapy. Objective To compare the repigmentation after MKTP using two different D/R ratios (1/3 and 1/10) with and without adjuvant phototherapy (NB‐UVB). Methods and materials In this non randomized prospective clinical trial, 42 patients with stable generalized vitiligo bilateral and symmetrical in distribution were included. Patients were divided into two groups, 21 patients with a total of 50 lesions were treated with MKTP using a D/R ratio of 1/3 (Group I; 3000 ± 500 cell/mm2) and the other 21 patients with a total of 52 lesions were treated by MKTP using a D/R ratio of 1/10 (Group II; 1000 ± 200 cell/mm2). To study the role of adjuvant phototherapy on repigmentation, lesions in each patient were divided into two subgroups (a and b): lesions in subgroups Ia and IIa (did not receive NB‐UVB) and lesions in subgroups Ib and IIb (received adjuvant phototherapy NB‐UVB, two sessions per week for 6 months). The overall grading of repigmentation used was excellent (90%‐100% repigmentation), good (75%‐89%), fair (50%‐74%), and poor (