Dermatosurgery

Vitiligo is a chronic skin condition that causes areas of the skin to become depigmented ie lose its colour (pigment). Considered an autoimmune disease, vitiligo is thought to occur when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys melanocytes.

The most common treatments for vitiligo include topical medications and light therapy that can be used in combination to restore pigment. Now, newer surgical techniques are being introduced that have shown to have a high success rate in restoring pigment to the affected areas. For any surgical procedure for vitiligo, a patient must have stable vitiligo, or vitiligo that has not changed or progressed further for at least 12-18 months.

In this procedure, normal skin, used as a donor, is harvested in form of 1.0mm to 2.0mm skin grafts. Similar sized grafts are cut out in the recipient site and the donor grafts are then put over the recipient areas.

In this procedure, thin epidermal grafts are obtained from a donor site by applying negative suction on limited areas. The graft obtained is then transplanted onto the recipient area.

The procedure can be used for limited areas of Vitiligo and gives excellent results. It is an excellent option for areas like lips and genitals.

Normal skin is used as donor tissue and then grafts are surgically transplanted on areas of vitiligo. The new skin grafts start producing pigment.

Normal donor skin (Split thickness skin graft) is cut into many pieces and transferred to the recipient dermabraded vitiliginous area. The procedure gives good cosmetic results and is a cost-effective method.

In this procedure, melanocytes and keratinocytes (the cells of the top layer of skin including the pigment producing cells) are separated from the donor skin site of the patient and are then transplanted on the vitiliginous area after abrading the top layer of the skin. The cells thus transplanted start producing colour in the recipient site area. The procedure has the advantage of being able to use a smaller donor area to cover larger recipient vitiliginous area.

This technique has a high success rate and gives near natural pigmentation to the affected area.

In this procedure, single hair follicle units are extracted from hair-bearing areas and transplanted to the vitiliginous area. The hair follicle thus transplanted act as a further source of melanin at the transplanted site.

Removal of the nail is an office procedure that is done in many situations where the damaged nail affects the surrounding normal skin. It is a curative treatment modality in many conditions such as in-growing toenail or fungal infection of the nail. It is also done for thick, painful and deformed toenails.

In certain diseases, a biopsy of the nail is required to make a correct diagnosis.

Skin Biopsy is a simple diagnostic procedure where a small piece of skin (3mm to 7mm) is removed and processed at specialised laboratories for histopathological analysis.

It is mostly done for diagnosing or confirming a diagnosis of a skin condition.

Benign cysts are the non cancerous skin lesions that are found on or just below the skin. Examples of skin lesions are epidermoid cysts, sebaceous cysts. Other non cystic benign skin lesions include lipomas.

Surgery is the only way to remove these skin lesions reliably but they maybe simply left alone. Post surgery recovery is quick and you should be able to go home a short while after the operation and back to work the following day unless your work will put a strain on the stitches.