Trial reportJournal of cosmetic dermatology2024
Efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy in treating non-segmental stable vitiligo: A randomized self-controlled clinical trial.
Trial report in Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- From Mechanisms to Clinical Practice: Advances in Vitiligo Treatment Across Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVitiligo remains a challenging condition to treat. Fire needle therapy, a traditional Chinese medicine technique, has potential as an alternative therapeutic strategy. However, rigorous evidence on its efficacy is lacking.
objectiveWe aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy, alone and combined with topical tacrolimus ointment, for non-segmental stable vitiligo.
methodsIn this 6-month randomized self-controlled trial, 35 vitiligo patients were enrolled, providing three similar lesions each. Lesions were randomly allocated to receive fire needle monotherapy, 0.1% tacrolimus ointment monotherapy, or combined fire needle and tacrolimus ointment therapy. The main outcome was change in vitiligo surface area.
resultsIn total, 29 patients completed the 6-month follow-up. The combination therapy group showed significantly greater reductions in vitiligo surface area compared to monotherapy groups starting at months 4 and 5. By the end of the study, combination therapy resulted in remarkably higher repigmentation responses, with 89.7% of lesions showing at least mild (≥25%) repigmentation and 51.7% showing good (≥50%) repigmentation. This significantly exceeded the outcomes with topical tacrolimus ointment alone, which only achieved 6.9% mild response and 6.9% good response. Fire needle monotherapy also demonstrated steady repigmentation over time, with 69% of lesions attaining a mild response by month 6. Importantly, no major adverse events occurred.
conclusionThis study provides promising preliminary evidence supporting the use of fire needle therapy, alone or in combination with topical tacrolimus ointment, for inducing repigmentation in non-segmental stable vitiligo. As a non-pharmacological approach, fire needle therapy warrants further study as an alternative vitiligo treatment.
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