Surgical procedures and innovative approaches for vitiligo regenerative treatment and melanocytorrhagy

Surgical treatments for vitiligo are a safe and effective treatment modality for select patients with vitiligo. Many techniques of vitiligo surgery exist, each with unique advantages and disadvantages. We reviewed the various surgical therapies and innovative approaches for vitiligo regenerative treatment reported in the literature. Surgical therapies can be subdivided into tissue grafting methods and cellular grafting methods. Tissue grafting methods mainly include mini punch grafts, suction blister roof grafts, and hair follicle grafts. Cellular grafting methods include cultured and non-cultured treatments. The efficacy needs to be improved largely due to the poor proliferation and quality of the autologous melanocytes. Rho-associated protein kinase inhibitor enhances primary melanocyte culture proliferation from vitiligo patients to prevent apoptosis. Innovative approaches using stem cell methods could prove invaluable in developing a novel cell therapy for patients suffering from vitiligo. We succeeded in inducing melanin pigmentation in mice skin in vivo using our human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived melanocytes. In addition, we reviewed melanocytorrhagy, detachment and transepidermal loss of melanocytes, and melanocyte-related adhesion molecules. These adhesion molecules include epithelial cadherin, discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 1, glycoprotein non-metastatic melanoma protein B, macrophage migration inhibiting factor, 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1, and E26 transformation-specific 1.