Hi,
I was recently diagnosed with Vitiligo, I only have very small patches on genital area and two small ones on the right hand and leg. Doctor diagnosed me without the use of Wood light, nor with a biopsy. However, based on the readings i am doing, it is probably Vitiligo.
So, I've been reading many clinical trials that took place with success rates of 70-90% in arresting the disease, and repegmentation rates of around 50% using: Prednisone 0.3 mg/kg for 4 months or Oral Pulse Steroid therapy "both oral pulse and prednisolone are almost the same treatment methodology: Suppressing the immune system".
I already have another autoimmune disease and was treated 10 years ago with prednisone, I am currently in remission from the other disease.
My Question: has anyone tried this before? Anyone went through this experience of oral steroids and vitiligo? if Yes, how did it go? did you stop the disease? did it come back? after how many months?
I am including the photos.....
Thanks,
Replies
Hi,
Started the Steroid pulse treatment from last week. I was recommended to use 5 mg of Betamethasone corticosteroid for 2 consecutive days of a week for the first two years and 3 mg for the next two.
Also taking Azathioprine along with this on the other 5 days of the week (100 mg for first 2 years and 50 mg for the next two)
Thats one strong treatment, for how long did you have vitiligo and how is it progressing?
I am on 0.3mg/kg prednisolone on a daily basis, I plan to follow this approach for 4 months then shift to the mini pulse treatment afterwards such as what you are doing.
I've been taking it for the past 25 days, not sure if it is helping or not, but in my case Vitiligo is just starting and only affects less than 1% of body surface at the moment.
Hello,
I have taken various different combination of treatments for my vitiligo which at its greatest spread was present on both ankles, knee caps, wrist, forearm and knuckles. My last treatment involved three aspects: oral steroids, ointment and full body phototherapy. From this, I gained complete repigmentation of my kneecaps. I can't say to what extent the oral steroids contributed towards the success, or whether it was due to the interaction between the three aspects. Just as a side note, the Doctor before starting treatment said that pigmentation would come back the quickest on skin which has the greatest number of hair follicles (i.e. the hairiest). Once again, I can't comment on the scientific reasoning behind this statement if there even is any, but the results suggest that there many be.
I hope this has been helpful and I wish you all the success in finding the right treatment!
Thanks Jay for your response, glad to hear the combined treatment worked well with you.
The oral steroid treatment, based on what i have been reading has excellent results to put the spreading of Vitiligo on hold, however, it has poor repigmentation results. Accordingly, if i may ask:
1- for how long did you take oral steroids, what was the dose?
2- did you reach a stage where new spots stopped appearing, or existing spots stopped expanding?
3- If yes, are you still on oral steroid, and when did you notice that the disease has stopped?
4- How is it going with areas other than kneecaps?