Manual needling with phenolization – an efficacious therapy for lip vitiligo: A case series

Vitiligo is a depigmenting disorder of which lip vitiligo is a presentation resistant to treatment due to dearth of melanocytes in the lip area. We combined manual needling and phenol application for the lateral angle of lip vitiligo. All consecutive stable cases of lateral angle of lip vitiligo were treated with manual needling followed by chemical cauterization with 88% phenol. Photographic documentation was done before treatment and at each follow-up visit. A total of 20 patients were treated and observed. Sixteen patients experienced near-complete repigmentation within 3–4 months. Three patients did not show much improvement. One patient was lost to follow-up. At the end, 65% patients showed more than 75% repigmentation in an average span of 3-month duration, whereas 15% showed 50–75% pigmentation, 10% showed 25–50% pigmentation, and 5% showed no pigmentation. Thus, the combination of microneedling followed by phenol application is an efficacious treatment of lip vitiligo.