The latest therapy for contemporary vitiligo

A deep research on the latest therapy prescriptions for vitiligo has revealed a batch of single Chinese herbal medicines and classical prescriptions that have a significant activation effect on tyrosinase. For instance, in China, some people carefully selected 74 prescriptions from ancient and modern TCM treatments for vitiligo, dismantled them, and input the grouped herbs into a computer for sorting. They screened out 89 high-frequency used Chinese herbs, observing the influence of ethanol extracts of these Chinese herbs on the activity of mushroom tyrosinase and the self-oxidation of dopa pigmentation in a cell-free system to produce melanin, aiming to find out Chinese herbs with definite effects of upregulating tyrosinase activity or activating melanocytes.

The experiment found that only 19 of the 89 herbs showed dose-dependent activation and upregulation effects on the activity of mushroom tyrosinase and melanin production. However, these Chinese herbs were not frequently used in previous treatment prescriptions for vitiligo. Only four herbs were ranked within the top 20 among the 89 Chinese herbs, indicating that the selection trend of effective prescriptions is dispersed. The application of computer sorting methods can identify effective Chinese herbs for the treatment of vitiligo, thereby providing a certain scientific basis for selecting Chinese herbs in treating vitiligo, overcoming three major challenges in the history of treatment by both Chinese and Western medicine: continuous diffusion, less recurrence after cure, and low treatment costs.