Novel therapies for skin pigmentation disorders

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Vitiligo is a disease characterised by a long-term loss of skin pigmentation where areas of skin (commonly on the face and hands) lose their natural colour. Vitiligo affects 65 million people worldwide and around 600,000 in the UK. The contrast in skin colour at affected sites can be very obvious and patients suffer significant social and emotional consequences including low self-esteem, social anxiety, stigmatisation and depression. Current drug treatments for vitiligo are fairly ineffective and prone to side effects. Ultraviolet light therapy can improve the efficacy of the topical drugs but this requires a significant number costly hospital visits and the positive effects are reversible. Many vitiligo patients therefore chose surgical procedures such as grafting skin from healthy to diseased areas. These surgical methods can repigment the affected area but the invasive surgery often leads to scarring. In this project we adopt a new technology-inspired innovation to overcome many of the disadvantages of existing therapies and surgeries providing vitiligo patients with a new treatment option that is simple, safe and cost-effective.