Clinical study of repigmentation patterns with either narrow-band ultraviolet B (NBUVB) or 308 nm excimer laser treatment in Korean vitiligo patients.

Background: Various repigmentation patterns such as perifollicular, marginal, diffuse, and mixed configuration can occur in vitiligo. The aim of this study was to clinically assess the types of repigmentation patterns obtained with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NBUVB) phototherapy or targeted phototherapy using a 308 nm excimer laser and to reveal whether the repigmentation patterns have any relationship to the location of lesions, patient's age, duration of lesions, or speed of improvement.

Methods: This study enrolled 51 patients who had effective responses as compared with baseline when treated with NBUVB alone and 52 patients who had effective responses as compared with baseline when treated with excimer laser alone.

The effects of placental extract on fibroblast proliferation.

Human placental extract is used in the treatment of skin wrinkles and wounds. To date, no studies have evaluated the effects of placental extract on dermal fibroblast proliferation. To investigate the effects of placental extract versus ascorbic acid on fibroblast proliferation and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 expression, cultured human fibroblasts were treated with placental extract (0, 0.