Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2017 Dec;14(6):1391-1394.
doi: 10.1111/iwj.12800. Epub 2017 Aug 10.

Wood's lamp for vitiligo disease stability and early recognition of initiative pigmentation after epidermal grafting

Yen-Jen Wang  1 , Chang-Cheng Chang  2   3   4 , Kun-Lin Cheng  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

Wood's lamp for vitiligo disease stability and early recognition of initiative pigmentation after epidermal grafting

Yen-Jen Wang et al. Int Wound J. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

The prerequisite for a successful vitiligo epidermal grafting surgery is the stable status of the disease. We used Wood's lamp to assess vitiligo activity to determine the disease stability, surgical grafting timing and the early recognition of re-pigmentation after grafting. Amelanotic lesions with sharply demarcated borders are typically stable and are good candidates for grafting. The re-pigmentation was first recognised under Wood's lamp as hypochromic islands, which progressed to normally pigmented islands. For patients more prone to relapse, follow up with Wood's lamp also provides more accurate surveillance.

Keywords: Epidermal grafting; Vitiligo; Wood's lamp.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Standard digital photograph taken before epidermal grafting. Previous phototherapy had accentuated the contrast between the normal pigmented skin and vitiligo lesions. (B) Photograph taken under Wood's lamp before epidermal grafting. Note the achromia and sharply defined borders, suggesting the stable status. (C) Standard digital photograph taken on postoperative day 21. Only 20% of grafts taken were noted because the patient did not refrain from exercise.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Standard digital photograph taken on (A) Postoperative day 45. Note the barely perceptible re‐pigmentation compared to Figure 1A without assistance with Wood's lamp. (C) Postoperative day 105. Photograph taken under Wood's lamp on (B) Postoperative day 45 and (D) Postoperative day 105. Note the sharply demarcated borders, suggesting the stable status (long arrows). Note the tetrachrome not shown by digital photography: achromic (triangle), hypochromic (broad arrows), pigmented (fine arrows) and the normal skin. The hypochromic islands had progressed to pigmented islands. The hypochromic islands may be the earliest sign of re‐pigmentation. Also note the fair re‐pigmentation in area with poor initial grafts taken.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Photographs taken under Wood's lamp. (A) Before epidermal grafting. (B) Three months after epidermal grafting. The grafted area on the left cheek appeared to be not apparently affected by the disease relapse on the glabella.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Benzekri L, Gauthier Y. Clinical markers of vitiligo activity. J Am Acad Dermatol 2017;76:856–62. - PubMed
    1. Janowska A, Dini V, Panduri S, Macchia M, Oranges T, Romanelli M. Epidermal skin grafting in vitiligo: a pilot study. Int Wound J 2016;13(Suppl 3):47–51. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Falabella R. Surgical approaches for stable vitiligo. Dermatol Surg 2005;31:1277–84. - PubMed
    1. Bae JM, Han TY. A grayscale photograph with high dynamic range taken under a Wood's lamp for better recognition of vitiligo lesions. J Am Acad Dermatol 2017;76:e89–90. - PubMed
    1. Gupta S, Kumar B. Epidermal grafting in vitiligo: influence of age, site of lesion, and type of disease on outcome. J Am Acad Dermatol 2003;49:99–104. - PubMed

Publication types