Epidermal grafting using the tops of suction blisters in the treatment of vitiligo

Surgical Techniques for Vitiligo: A Review

“…According to the available literature, the highest success rates can be achieved with split-thickness grafts and suction blister grafts [2, 13, 17, 22, 25]. When no complete repigmentation has been achieved, an additional treatment with full-thickness punch grafts can be considered [29].…”

“…Repigmentation occurs gradually within a few weeks. The success rate according to the literature is 73–88% [13, 17, 25]. Pigment spread after epidermal blister grafting can be enhanced by pre-operative radiation therapy of the donor site using PUVA [15].…”

Vitiligo: A comprehensive overview

“…Local phototoxicity has also been used to raise donor bullae. 134 Grafts can be harvested from various sites, but the flexor aspect of the arm appears to most reliably produce a bulla. 135 The bulla is then ''unroofed'' and transplanted onto the recipient site, which must be prepared to enable proper adherence and uptake of the graft.…”

“…Most patients with SV retained the pigment, but there was some loss of pigmentation in the patients with NSV. 134 Failure to repigment may be caused by a Koebner response. 140 Hatchome et al 140 found pigment from the graft had a two-to threefold expansion to surrounding tissues after 3 to 4 months in most patients.…”

Efficacy of Miniature Punch Grafting Followed by Puvasol Therapy in Refractory Stable Vitiligo

“…These non responding cases of stable vi ligo can be treated with autologous skin gra ing. Autologous skin gra ing can be done in various ways such as epidermal culture gra ing 12 , pure melanocyte culture gra ing 14 , epidermal gra ing by suc on blister technique 13 , thin Thiersch's split skin gra ing 15 , or thin split skin miniature punch gra ing. The later method was fi rst advocated by Falabella to treat small to medium sized localized patches of focal and segmental vi ligo 4,5 .…”