A study published in the JAMA Dermatology involves a woman’s case having vitiligo, a skin disorder characterized by splotchy pigment. A drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis was able to get back her skin color.

Dr. Brett King and Dr. Brittany Craiglow, assistant professors of dermatology at Yale University, have explained in the journal as to how they have discovered the solution to the skin problem in which loss of skin color appears to be white spots on the body.

In 2014, the researchers came to know that the medication meant for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, known as a tofacitinib, can also be used to treat hair loss by alopecia areata. The team then thought the same medicine can also prove effective in treating vitiligo.

In order to test it, the researchers gave tofacitinib to a 53-year-old patient with vitiligo on her face, hands and body. Before the start of the study, white spots were increasing on the patient’s body. With two months of treatment with the drug, the doctors said that their patient experienced partial repigmentation of her face, arms and hands.

After five months, the white spots on her face and hands were nearly disappeared and just a few spots were remaining on other parts of her body. “While it's one case, we anticipated the successful treatment of this patient based on our current understanding of the disease and how the drug works”, said King.