Efficacy and safety of integrative and complementary treatments versus conventional therapies in patients with vitiligo: A systematic review

This systematic review included six randomized controlled trials involving 255 patients with vitiligo and compared integrative and complementary treatments with conventional therapies or placebo. The evaluated interventions included topical turmeric cream, oral Ginkgo biloba, fire needle therapy alone or combined with tacrolimus, microneedling-assisted delivery of calcipotriol plus betamethasone, and the traditional Chinese formulation Zengse Pill. Several individual trials reported significant improvements in repigmentation, lesion area reduction, or disease arrest, while treatment-related adverse events were generally mild and no serious events were reported. An exploratory meta-analysis of two studies produced a pooled risk ratio of 2.05, but the result was not statistically significant and showed moderate heterogeneity. Overall, these findings suggest that selected complementary treatments may serve as useful adjuncts, but larger multicenter randomized trials with standardized outcomes and longer follow-up are needed.