Treatment of Vitiligo with Oral Vitamin B₁₂ and Folic Acid

Vitiligo rarely improves with current therapies. A previous report found low levels of folic acid and vitamin B₁₂ in some patients with vitiligo and a response to aggressive replacement therapy. Prompted by that report, investigators in Sweden conducted a nonblinded, uncontrolled study of oral folic acid and vitamin B₁₂ supplementation in 100 patients with vitiligo.

The patients ranged in age from 9 to 79 years; 67 were women, and 64 had active disease. Vitiligo had been present for 1 to 43 years, with the age of onset ranging from 1 to 65 years. Patients were treated with tablets containing 1 mg of vitamin B₁₂ and 5 mg of folic acid twice daily, which they were instructed to take for 3 months or more. They were encouraged to seek UVB exposu…