Vitiligo is the commonest depigmenting skin disorder affecting people of all skin types and ethnicities. It is characterized by a selective and progressive loss of functioning melanocytes from epidermis resulting in white patches on the skin and occasionally mucosae as well. A number of treatment approaches have been tried but none of them has been universally accepted as the therapy of choice. Currently there is no cure or effective method to limit the spread of the disease. The topical calcineurin inhibitors tacrolimus (0.03% in children and 0.1% in adults) and pimecrolimus 1% are preferred to topical corticosteroids for patients with limited vitiligo involving the face or areas at high risk for skin atrophy (e.g., intertriginous areas, genitals). Individual case reports describing the efficacy and safety of topical JAKi including topical tofacitinib, topical ruxolitinib and topical brepocitinib are available. These have been tried in cases of segmental as well as non-segmental vitiligo. While topical tofacitinib and ruxolitinib had favorable outcomes, topical delgocitinib showed variable results. Most of the studies on topical JAKi in vitiligo are open label, uncontrolled studies in whom treatment has been tried in combination with other therapies. Larger randomized trials are needed to conclusively establish role of topical JAKi in management of vitiligo.

 In this prospective randomised study, we intend to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of topical tofacitinib and compare it with topical tacrolimus in 25 patients (50 patches) of limited vitiligo vulgaris with an actively spreading disease and satisfying other inclusion criterias.