Background: Cultured autologous melanocyte transplantation (CMT) is an effective treatment for stable vitiligo, but the current method is time consuming and expensive because of the requirement of a large number of melanocytes.
Objective: To assess the clinical effect of low-density CMT combined with narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) in treating stable vitiligo.
Materials and methods: The authors treated 8 patients with CMT at a low cell density (less than 2.5 × 10 cells/cm). Among them, 6 patients underwent NB-UVB therapy after CMT.
Results: All the 6 patients treated with low-density CMT combined with NB-UVB obtained more than 90% repigmentation at the 1-year follow-up.
Conclusion: The authors' data suggest that low-density CMT combined with NB-UVB can be an effective form of surgical treatment for stable vitiligo.