Abstract: Objective To study the efficacy and safety of tacalcitol combined with monochromatic excimer light (MEL) 308 nm vs MEL 308 nm monotherapy in treating vitiligo.Methods Thirty-eight patients with vitiligo were enrolled in the single-blind clinical trial,using plabebo-treated lesions in the same patient as controls.Contralateral or nearby lesions were randomly selected to be treated by either tacalcitol or placebo.All lesions were treated weekly with MEL 308 nm,for a total of 12 sessions.Patients were examined at monthly intervals.The mean number of sessions and the cumulative dosage for initial and excellent repigrnentation were calculated.Results Thirty-five patients were evaluated.The mean±SEM cumulative dose and number of MEL exposures for initial repigmentation,respectively,were 4.27±3.59 J/cm² and 4.89±3.16 on tacalcitol-treated site,5.36±4.12 J/cm² and 5.69±3.29 on placebo-treated site,respectively (both P<0.05).For excellent repigrnentation,the cumulative dose and number of exposures were 7.72±5.64 J/cm² and 7.79±4.70 respectively on tacalcitol-treated site,and 8.18±4.87 J/cm²and 8.4±3.92 respectively on placebo-treated site (both P>0.05).Treatment with tacalcitol resulted in a significantly higher percentage (71.4% vs 54.3%) of repigmentation than that with placebo.Conclusions Our results show that MEL 308 nm is safe and effective for the treatment of vitiligo.Additionally,concurrent topical tacalcitol potentiates the efficacy of MEL 308 nm in the treatment of vitiligo;this combination achieves more rapid pigmentation with a lower total MEL dosage.

Key words: Vitiligo, MEL 308-nm, Tacalcitol