Vitiligo treatment can test anyone’s patience. Repigmentation happens gradually, and in the first few months it’s easy to wonder whether a cream is doing anything at all. A new real-world study suggests the answer may be to give it more time.
As reported by Dermatology Times, researchers looked back at 120 patients with vitiligo treated at an academic dermatology center in Southern California. All of them had used topical Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, with an average treatment time of nearly 10 months. The study was published in JID Innovations.
What the Research Shows
Time on treatment stood out. Patients whose vitiligo improved had used their topical JAK inhibitor for an average of 13 months, compared with 8 months for those who hadn’t improved. The researchers then accounted for factors like age, sex, ethnicity, skin type, vitiligo subtype and combination therapy. Each additional month of treatment was still linked to 11 percent higher odds of improvement on a standard vitiligo scoring scale.
According to the researchers, this shows why patients need to know that repigmentation takes time. They also stressed staying on treatment long enough to tell whether it’s working.
Results differed by ethnicity, too. Half of Hispanic patients improved, compared with 27 percent of non-Hispanic patients. The researchers cautioned against reading too much into this. Hispanic patients in the study were more likely to have localized vitiligo, and the group was small.
The Insurance Hurdle
Getting the treatment covered was another story. Patients with public insurance made up 60 percent of prescription denials for topical JAK inhibitors, compared with 40 percent for those with private insurance. The authors noted that this disparity hadn’t been reported in vitiligo before and could widen existing gaps in care.
What This Means for You
This was a retrospective study from a single center, with few Black patients. It also counted any drop in vitiligo score as improvement, so it didn’t measure how much skin repigmented. The authors are calling for larger studies across more centers and more diverse groups of patients.
Still, if you’re using a topical JAK inhibitor and feel discouraged by slow results, talk to your dermatologist before giving up on it. If your prescription has been denied, these findings may be worth bringing to your dermatologist or to an insurance appeal.
