RESEARCH ARTICLE
HIV-Associated Vitiligo Totalis with Minimal Repigmentation and Alopecia Areata Diffusa During Immune-Reconstitution
Jason E. Sack*, 1, Salinee Rojhirunsakool1, Jag Bhawan1, 2, Thomas M. Rünger1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 90
Last Page: 92
Publisher ID: TODJ-2-90
DOI: 10.2174/1874372200802010090
Article History:
Received Date: 13/08/2008Revision Received Date: 08/09/2008
Acceptance Date: 08/09/2008
Electronic publication date: 7/10/2008
Collection year: 2008
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Cutaneous findings in the setting of HIV infection encompass a broad spectrum of diseases. Only few cases of vitiligo or alopecia areata have been described in HIV/AIDS patients and it remains unclear whether there is a causal relationship between HIV/AIDS and these two conditions.
Observations:
Our patient initially presented with diffuse generalized pruritic hypo- and depigmented macules and patches. She was diagnosed with advanced HIV/AIDS at that time. There was progression to vitiligo totalis followed by partial repigmentation and generalized alopecia areata diffusa with immune-reconstitution.
Conclusions:
This is, to our knowledge, the first case of rapidly progressing vitiligo totalis in a patient with advanced HIV/AIDS. We conclude that this, together with the observation of repigmentation during immune-reconstitution, suggests a causal relation between vitiligo and HIV/AIDS. The different time course of the also observed alopecia areata diffusa, with first manifestation during immune-reconstitution, may be due to differences in the immune-pathogenesis between vitiligo and alopecia areata.