Treatment of Discoid Lupus Erythematosus with Autologous Suction Blister Graft / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) commonly develops on the sun-exposed area such as the bridge of the nose, malar areas, lower lip and ears. Typically lesions have well-defined discoid erythematous patches with adherent scales, horny plugs, telangiectasia, hypopigmentation and atrophy. Topical, systemic and intralesional injection of steroid and antimalarial drugs have been used. However, the most important treatments in DLE are avoidance of sunlight exposure and daily use of high SPF sunscreen. We treated two DLE patients with autologous suction blister graft (ASBG) which has been widely used for treatment of vitiligo. In general, grafted sites tend to be hyperpigmented after ASBG, so we adopted this characteristic to the treatment of DLE for the purpose of achieving natural sun protection. After one month of ASBG, not only increased pigmentation but also improved skin texture of the lesion was observed. We thought ASBG provided the biologically protective barrier to sunlight and somewhat improvement of DLE lesion. Therefore, ASBG could be regarded as one of the options in the therapeutic modalities of DLE.