Q&A: Where is Vitiligo Headed in 2026? With Davinder Parsad, MD

On June 25, 2026, a new World Vitiligo Day took place, allowing new opportunities for those in the dermatology field to advocate for and empower patients living with vitiligo.¹ Vitiligo, an acquired autoimmune depigmenting condition known to impact approximately 0.36% of the population around the world, is 1 of the most visible skin conditions and can strongly affect patients’ well-being and quality of life.²

This awareness day is designed to potentially impact legal frameworks as well as draw in pharmaceutical investment. In India, Davinder Parsad, MD, a professor in the Department of Dermatology at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, successfully unified 3 national dermatological societies to endorse World Vitiligo Day.^1,3

Parsad spoke with the HCPLive editorial team following World Vitiligo Day, highlighting the importance of the awareness day, upcoming therapies in the vitiligo treatment space, and continuing misconceptions the public has about the disorder:

HCPLive: World Vitiligo Day and Vitiligo Awareness Month have both concluded recently. From your perspective, what would you say is the impact of these awareness days and months on actual clinical practice? Have you noticed any changes in patient engagement?

Parsad: Yeah, as you rightly pointed out, when we organized World Vitiligo Day, when it started, the focus was on a single day. This year, we thought, why not have a long-term, ongoing process rather than just a single day of organization like World Health Day. And yes, probably with the education given through this platform to the patient, it has helped to an extent. But I think we have to go a long way to involve patients in every aspect of the treatment, and to improve their quality of life. It should be an ongoing process, which has to be focused on daily basis rather than just one day per year.

HCPLive: Despite the growing awareness you mentioned, what would you say are the biggest misconceptions about vitiligo among patients, or even among healthcare providers?

Parsad: I would say it varies from region to region. Here in our part of the world, India, we have many stigmas, many myths concerning this disease. We are educating our patients on that as well, and some…consider it a cosmetic disease. So they say the treatment is optional, but that is not a correct message. Because we have to treat this disease early, and in some cases, maybe aggressively to control the disease activity, that message has just not been fully implemented.

HCPLive: We are in an era now where repigmentation is an actual attainable treatment goal for many patients. How would you say the availability of targeted therapies has changed conversations with patients?

Parsad: Yes, over the last few years, with the first FDA approval for repigmentation therapy, that is ruxolitinib ointment. It has sort of opened a hope for vitiligo patients. The targeted treatment can be used in the near future in the management of vitiligo. We have also, in our daily practice, started with broad-spectrum immunosuppressives like oral mini-pulse and other broad-spectrum immunosuppressive agents. But now, with this pathomechanism of the JAK-STAT pathway, which is emerging as one of the best models to tackle vitiligo, we are very hopeful that we are moving towards a targeted treatment with the JAK inhibitors and other such therapies, which can target that pathway.

HCPLive: Which clinical data or potential regulatory milestones are you looking at most closely in the vitiligo space?

Parsad: As of now, we have just one topical approved as a repigmentation therapy in vitiligo, but I understand the phase 3 results of new JAK inhibitors like upadcitinib, ritlecitinib, and povorcitinib are encouraging. Probably, that will be in the pipeline for approval in the management of vitiligo, and for controlling the disease activity, we need a systemic approach with these targeted molecules.

HCPLive: Beyond efficacy, what would you say are any unanswered questions that remain for clinicians?

Parsad: This is a very important point because of the durability of repigmentation with the currently available JAKs. We probably need a long-term treatment because, especially in non-segmental vitiligo, it's a dynamic process. To achieve total stability of the treatment is still is a is a dream as of now for the management of vitiligo. We have to give maintenance therapy in the form of topical agents like topical calcineurin inhibitors, or a long-term therapy with a safe molecule which we can continue for a long period of time. Then probably intermittent therapy, which can be given for a longer duration.

HCPLive: What are you most looking forward to for next year’s World Vitiligo Day?

Parsad: We are still, I think, lagging behind in stabilization and repigmentation. So we have good molecules now, JAK inhibitors and other molecules in the pipelines, but we need to focus on the repigmentation strategies. Some newer molecules can make the melanocyte proliferate faster, then migrate to give rise to better repigmentation. So, as of now, phototherapy is the gold standard, because the majority of this treatment they are dependent on a combination with phototherapy. Probably we need to look into that term of repigmentation strategies, and we have to focus on the next 4 to 5 years.

Regarding the World Vitiligo Day, we just want to keep focus on awareness and educating about vitiligo subjects and the population at large. This is a treatable condition, so one needs to start an early treatment because vitiligo is a disease which is differs from other autoimmune diseases in a sense. Here we are relying on the reservoir, so if we don't have a reservoir of melanocytes, which tend to get depleted with the long-term duration of vitiligo, it's very difficult to repigment. Just to save this reservoir, we need to start the treatment early, and that is the message we want to disseminate, as early treatment is one of the best approaches for successful treatment.

Disclosures: Parsad reported no relevant financial disclosures.

References

1. Valle Y, Parsad D, Sigova J, et al. World vitiligo day: a model for grassroots medical activism and pharmaceutical innovation. Front Med (Lausanne). 2025 Apr 15;12:1571422. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1571422. PMID: 40303368; PMCID: PMC12037365.

2. Seneschal J, Bae JM, Picardo M, et al. Vitiligo. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2025 Dec 4;11(1):85. doi: 10.1038/s41572-025-00670-x. PMID: 41345471.

3. Mendonça CR, Mohamed A, Torres T, et al. New and emerging treatments for vitiligo: a narrative review. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2026 Jan-Feb;19(2):117-132. doi: 10.1080/17512433.2026.2626458. Epub 2026 Feb 6. PMID: 41645658.