Trioxsalen Therapy for Vitiligo

To the Editor.—  It was interesting to read the article by Kligman and Goldstein published in the Archives.¹ They have added new dimensions to the use of trioxsalen in cases of vitiligo. They claim that this synthetic furocoumerin is ineffective as an oral photosensitizers, since the absorption of trioxsalen from the gastrointestinal tract is questionable in human beings. The authors give no data to support their contention. Nevertheless, they seem to take solace from the experimental work on rats by Nakajima et al² and Murata et al.³In order to refute the well-conceived observations of Hamada,⁴ Miyazawa,⁵ and others^6-9 of the effectiveness of trioxsalen therapy in vitiligo, it is imperative to do blood-level studies. Since Kligman and Goldstein did not investigate this aspect, their observations seem premature. Furthermore, the authors admitted that they did not study the therapeutic effectiveness of the drug but only