title: Treatment of segmental vitiligo with normal-hair follicle autograft.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Segmental vitiligo is a small subset albeit persistent form of focal vitiligo with dermatomal distributionand resistant to medical therapy. In recent years, surgical therapy as hair follicle autograft transplantationhas been a hot topic in management of segmental vitiligo. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of thismethod in segmental vitiligo lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study recruited 10 patients who suffered from resistant segmental vitiligo to evaluate the effectof transplantation of pigmented hair follicles on re-pigmentation of the affected area. In this method, one or twopunched-biopsy skin sample with a diameter of 5mm were harvested from occipital area of the scalps. Graftswere trimmed and divided into the follicular segments with at least one follicle in the interior and then insertedin the depigmented areas. Follow-up plan studies were scheduled to evaluate presence of pigmentation in theperifollicular areas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 2 weeks, re-pigmentation was detectable surrounding the grafted hair follicles in 60 % of thecases. After 6 months, all of the patients had detectable re-pigmented area of about 2-9 mm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  giving the surprising result of the study, hair follicle autograft transplant is an effective treatmentoption in the persistent segmental vitiligo.
authors.affiliation: Professor of Dermatology, Skin and Stem Cell Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, and Dermatology Department, Rasoul Akram Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. researchdermatology@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: MirHadi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aziz Jalali
authors.affiliation: Dermatologist, Skin and Stem Cell Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, and Dermatology Department, Rasoul Akram Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. babakjafari@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jafari
authors.affiliation: Dermatologist, Medical school, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. isfahanim@ tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isfahani
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor of Dermatology, Skin and Stem Cell Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mohammadalinilforoushzadeh@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nilforoushzadeh
keywords: Autologous transplantation; Hair follicle; Surgical therapy; Vitiligo