Novel therapies for skin pigmentation disorders

白癜风是一种以皮肤色素沉着长期丧失为特征的疾病，其中皮肤区域（通常在面部和手部）失去了自然颜色。白癜风影响着全球6500万人，在英国约有60万人。受影响部位的肤色差异可能非常明显，患者会遭受严重的社会和情感后果，包括自卑、社交焦虑、污名化和抑郁。目前对白癜风的药物治疗相当无效，而且容易产生副作用。紫外光疗法可以提高局部药物的疗效，但这需要大量昂贵的医院就诊，而且积极的效果是可逆的。因此，许多白癜风患者选择外科手术，如将皮肤从健康部位移植到病变部位。这些手术方法可以使受影响的区域重新着色，但侵入性手术往往会导致疤痕。在这个项目中，我们采用了一种新的技术创新，克服了现有疗法和手术的许多缺点，为白癜风患者提供了一种简单、安全、经济的新治疗选择。

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.