Arthritis Drugs for the Treatment of Vitiligo - MD Magazine
"This may be a huge step forward in the treatment of patients with this condition."
My understanding is it suppresses the immune system, a process that has risks (http://www.drugs.com/cdi/tofacitinib.html), but the article from Steve's News column is from November 2015 and indicates the drug is working. Then again: "white spots only remained on other parts of her body" indicates, for me, a risk too great at this time.
It sounds like they're onto something, however! It's articles like this that instill my belief that we'll see a cure in our lifetime!
From the article:
The 53-year-old female vitiligo patient had spots covering her face, hands, and body which had increased in number for the 12 months prior to undergoing the tofacitinib treatment. The areas which most concerned the patient – her hands, arms, and face – saw returned pigmentation after two months of treatment. After give months, the white spots on her face were nearly gone and spots only remained on other parts of her body. Again, no side effects were reported.
“While it’s one case, we anticipated the successful treatment of this patient based on our current understanding of the disease and how the drug works,” study co-author Brittany Craiglow, MD, explained in a press release, adding that this could be a breakthrough in treatment for vitiligo. “It’s a first, and it could revolutionize treatment of an awful disease. This may be a huge step forward in the treatment of patients with this condition.”
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I've read some articles in the web that show patients that recovered vitiligo with a certain "new RA medicine". As a matter of fact, what they might have recovered was the side effect (vitiligo) caused by the former RA medicine that they were taking before.
So, it seems that the new drug cured their vitiligo.