ByHello friends, as from my previous blogs you can now understand Vitiligo. In this blog, I am going to tell you about Melanocyte transplantation and its post-operative care. As you all know vitiligo is a skin disease that causes white patches on the skin. The white patches happen due to the destruction of melanin pigment. The pigment is responsible for the color of the skin.
Causes of Vitiligo
Friends, you all know that vitiligo happens because of the destruction of the melanin pigment or the melanin pigment stopping working. But the exact cause of Vitiligo is not known. We have found a number of reasons also which can cause vitiligo too, like taking lots of stress, exposure of skin to harmful chemicals, and heredity. Sunburn also causes vitiligo as it harms the skin.
Always remember friends’ vitiligo is not a contagious disease. Age is not a barrier too. It can appear at any age.
Treatment of Vitiligo
For vitiligo, there are a number of treatments to treat it depending upon the type of vitiligo. There are 2 types of vitiligo, stable and unstable vitiligo.
For unstable vitiligo in which the white patches keep on increasing, surgery is not required. We give medicines, Ozone therapy, and phototherapy treatment for unstable vitiligo.
Stable vitiligo in which the white patches remain stable requires special treatment. The treatments we give are punch grafting, skin grafting, and melanocyte transplantation.
Melanocyte transplantation is the latest technique that we used to treat stable vitiligo. Friends’ the following is the link to my video.
What is melanocyte transplantation and how it is done?
Melanocyte transplantation is the latest and most advanced technology that we used to treat stable vitiligo. Traditionally, skin grafting was used in the treatment of stable vitiligo. But it has many disadvantages. The main is that the color matching is not 100%. It is different and people can tell just by looking at the treated area that you have done skin grafting. To overcome this, we have started using melanocyte transplantation.
In this, we take off skin from other parts of the body, mainly from the thighs. Then we treat that skin with chemicals like tripsane, anti-tripsane, or other solutions. After this, we separate melanin pigment from the chemically treated skin. We then use this separated melanin pigment into the white patches on the skin.
After some time the melanin pigment started growing in those white patches. The white patches start getting the color that the rest of the skin. The result of this is 100% natural. The cosmetic result of melanocyte transplantation is far better than the result of skin grafting.
Who are the right candidates for melanocyte transplantation?
If you want to know when to get the melanocyte transplant, then you must know the following:
- If your white patches are not increasing for the past year and also not one new white patch is coming, then you must go for a melanocyte transplant.
- Melanocyte transplant is a very successful treatment. It can cover large areas. If you have 20% or less than 20% white patch cover, then you are eligible for a melanocyte transplant.
How much time Melanocyte Transplant Surgery takes?
Friends, the time of melanocyte transplant surgery depends on the size of the patches. If the size of the patch is large then it will take more time and vice-versa.
Melanocyte transplant is a lengthy surgery. It takes 4 to 5hrs to complete.
What are the post-operative precautions for Melanocyte transplant?
After the surgery, patients should take complete rest for 5 to 6 days. The body parts of the patient with white patches like thighs, arms, and others should not be moved for 5 to 6 days. The movement should be completely stopped.
After the operation, we plaster that part so that the movement will be very less. If you have a melanocyte transplant on your lips then you should be on a liquid diet through a straw for minimal movement.
Friends, this is very important because if you don’t take proper precautions then you don’t get the desired result. For the best result, you should follow all the precautions prescribed by the doctor.
I hope the friends I am able to give you enough information about Melanocyte transplants on this blog. Kindly visit the above link for the video.
