Dermatology Patient is Left With Burns and Scarring After Undergoing Inappropriate Skin Treatment

Case Overview

Questions to the Dermatology expert and their responses

Do you treat patients with vitiligo?

As the director of the Ethnic Skin Program at a major medical school, I very regularly treat vitiligo.

What are the indications for ultraviolet light therapy?

Ultraviolet light therapy is used to treat a variety of inflammatory disorders, including vitiligo. However, narrowband UVB therapy is now considered the standard of care for treatment of vitiligo. In my opinion, indications for PUVA for treatment of vitiligo include lack of response to narrowband UVB therapy or if the latter is unavailable within a reasonable commuting distance for the patient. Narrowband UVB and PUVA have similar response rates (though some studies show narrowband UVB has slightly superior response rates), the risk of adverse effects is lower with narrowband UVB, and the color match between the normal skin and the regimented skin is better with narrowband UVB.

Have you lectured/published on this topic?

I have lectured on this topic and am currently conducting a research study on narrowband UVB therapy and vitiligo.

About the expert

This expert is an assistant professor of dermatology at one of the most globally prominent schools of medicine. As director of the Ethnic Skin Program at her institution, she focuses her clinical practice and research on diseases that disproportionately affect people with darker skin, such as razor bumps, keloids, hair thinning, sarcoidosis, lupus and mycosis fungoides. She earned her MD from Columbia University and completed her residency at Yale University, where she served as the chief resident. She completed a dermatology preceptorship at St Johns Institute of Dermatology in London and a preceptorship in leprosy and leishmaniasis at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.