Study on the effect of Dead Sea climatotherapy on vitiligo

Theaim of this study at Hadassah University Hospital was to evaluate the effectiveness of Dead Sea climatotherapy in 436 patients with vitiligo.

The records of 436 vitiligo patients who received medical treatment at the German Medical Center (DMZ) between 1997 and 2005 were used for analysis. Climatotherapy, which includedgradually increased sun exposure following sea bathing, was administered according to a computerized protocol. Age at onset of vitiligo, skin type, extent of skin involvement, disease duration, and timing and duration of DSC were recorded. Logistic regression was used to determine the influence of the analyzed parameters on treatment success.

After treatment, 3.9% of patients showed complete or significant repigmentation, 81.4% showed good repigmentation, 13.1% showed no repigmentation but their vitiligo patches were pink in color, and 1.6% did not appear to respond to therapy at all. Patients' response to treatment was inversely proportional to the size of the affected skin area. A negative correlation was found between the duration of vitiligo and the short-term clinical response to Dead Sea climatotherapy. It was also found that the longer the stay at the Dead Sea, the better the result.

Dead Sea climatotherapy is an effective treatment method for vitiligo. The duration and severity of the disease and the duration of treatment were the main factors that had a positive effect on the clinical response.