Could Re-pigmentation Mean Vitiligo is Cured

The re-pigmentation of vitiligo depends on human hair follicle melanocytes, which have two different activities: one is the active melanocytes in the hair matrices and funiculus of the hair follicles during the anagen phase, and the other is the inactive (non-pigmented) melanocytes in the hair root sheaths outside the hair follicles during the anagen phase. The vitiligo lesions or white patches have almost no active melanocytes, it cannot synthesize melanin. The vitiligo pigment regeneration is the result of inactive unpigmented melanocytes in the sheath of the hair root outside the hair follicle being activated, dividing, proliferating, and traveling along the hair follicle from the bottom up to the epidermis and then transversely to the depigmented area, resulting in vitiligo pigment regeneration and re-coloring of the white patches.

The study confirmed that there are more "dormant" temporarily non-functional melanocytes in the hair root sheath outside the hair follicle, which are activated by some specific factors, thus providing a melanocyte reservoir for skin pigment regeneration. This explains the difficulty in restoring color to areas without hair follicles, such as the lips, dorsum of the terminal phalanges, and palms, where there is a lack of melanocyte reservoirs.

In addition, the migration of normal melanocytes around the white patches to the white patches is also an important reason why vitiligo regains pigment and restores skin color. The melanocytes that migrate to the vitiligo epidermis finally settle in the inner layer of the epidermis and form epidermal melanin units together with keratin-forming cells to maintain the normal skin color.

Vitiligo patients should not only adhere to the treatment but also carry out a period of consolidation treatment after the disease is treated, which would be helpful for the prevention of the recurrence of the disease.