Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

Source	Study Design	Types of Vitiligo	No. of Patients	Subtype	Treatment Duration	Intervention	Fitzpatrick Skin Type	Types of Topical Vit-D	Outcome
Abdel 2015 [78]	Randomized blinded comparative study	Non-segmental	44	Localized and stable	3 months	-Calcipotriol 50 µg/g with BM 0.5 mg/g vs. -Monochromatic excimer light (MEL)	NR	Ointment	-Combination achieved 19.4% excellent, 11.1% good, 33.3% moderate, and 16.6% poor repigmentation, while MEL achieved 16.6%, 27.7%, 13.8%, 19.4%, respectively
Ada 2005 [79]	Right-left comparison prospective single-blinded study	Non-segmental	20	Generalized vitiligo	12 months	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with NB-UVB	NR	Cream	-No significant difference for calcipotriol on NB phototherapy (poor)
Akdeniz [80] 2014	Randomized double-blind comparative study	Non-segmental	45	NR	6 months	-Calcipotriol with BM and NB-UVB vs. -Calcipotriol with NB-UVB vs. NB-UVB	NR	Ointment	-Combinations therapies of calcipotriol and BM achieved 63.33% to 60.67% for calcipotriol and 46.67% for NB alone (good)
Arca 2006 [81]	Comparative prospective study	Non-segmental	40	Stable	4 months	-Calcipotriol 0.05% with NB UVB vs. -NB-UVB	NR	Ointment	-Combination therapy achieved 45% of moderate repigmentation compared to 41.6% for NB alone -Calcipotriol did not add any advantages to NB
Bakr 2021 [82]	Prospective randomized comparative study	Non-segmental	30	Stable	3 months	-Calcipotriol 0.05% with CO2 laser vs. -Tacrolimus with CO2 laser vs. -NB-UVB with CO2 laser	NR	Ointment	-Excellent achievements for calcipotriol, tacrolimus, and NB was 10%, 30%, and 40%, respectively -All combinations are effective and safe -The NB group is the most effective one
Baysal 2003 [47]	Prospective right/left comparative, open study	Non-segmental	22	Generalized	9 months	-Calcipotriol with PUVA vs. -PUVA	NR	Cream	-The average response for the combination was (good) 53.3% and 53.11% for PUVA alone -No significant difference
Cherif 2003 [83]	Prospective study	Non-segmental	23	Bilateral symmetrical	15 weeks	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with PUVA vs. -PUVA	IV, V	Ointment	-Combination achieved 69% of poor to moderate repigmentation compared to 52% for PUVA alone
Gargoom 2004 [84]	Prospective right/left comparison study	Segmental and non-segmental	18	Focal/mucosal	4–6 months	-Calcipotriol 50 µg/g	NR	Cream/Ointment	-77.8% showed improvement while 22.2% had no response. -From the improvement cases 21.4% achieved excellent and 28.6% good -Ointment is more effective than the cream
Goktas 2006 [75]	Prospective right/left comparison study	Non-segmental	24	Generalized	6 months	-Calcipotriol 0.05 mg/g with NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB	II, III	Cream	-Early pigmentation/good (combination 51% compared to 39% for NB only)
Goldinger 2007 [85]	Prospective right/left comparative single-blinded trial	Non-segmental	10	Bilateral symmetrical	15 months	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with MEL vs. -MEL	II, III, IV	Ointment	-88.2% showed evidence/of good repigmentation for both. -Effectiveness of MEL is not considerably increased with calcipotriol
Hartmann 2005 [86]	Prospective right/left comparative study	Non-segmental	10	Symmetrical (vulgaris/acrofacial /localized)	12 months	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB vs.	II, III	Ointment	-NB is effective/good in treating vitiligo -No therapeutic effect for calcipotriol in the combination (poor)
Ibrahim 2019 [87]	Prospective right/left comparative study	Segmental and non-segmental	25	Stable and symmetrical, focal and generalized	6 months	-Calcipotriol 0.05 mg/g with BM 0.5 mg vs. -Tacrolimus (both received derma pen microneedles	III, IV	Ointment	60% showed excellent improvement for the calcipotriol combination compared to 32% for tacrolimus
Juntongjin 2021 [88]	Prospective randomized double-blind comparative study	Non-segmental	13	Acral vitiligo	24 weeks	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with MEL vs. -Clobetasol with MEL	IV	Ointment	-85% and 77% showed partial repigmentation for calcipotriol and clobetasol, respectively (poor). -No significant difference between treatments
Katayama 2003 [89]	Prospective uncontrolled open trial	Segmental and non-segmental	15	Vulgaris vitiligo	3 months	-Tacalcitol with solar irradiation	NR	Ointment	40% of patients responded in a good to excellent way clinically
Khullar 2015 [90]	Prospective right-left comparative study	Non-segmental	27	Generalized vitiligo (vulgaris and acrofacial	24 weeks	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB	III, IV, V	Ointment	51.4% reduction in the lesions for NB and 49% for combination (good repigmentation)
Kullavanija-ya 2004 [91]	Prospective open bilateral comparison study	Non-segmental	20	Symmetrical vitiligo	15 months	-Calcipotriene 0.005% with NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB/placebo	NR	Ointment	-Calcipotriene did not affect the overall response rate (poor) -Excellent repigmentation 52.9% for the combination
Kumaran 2006 [92]	Randomized trial	Non-segmental	49	Localized vitiligo	3 months	-Calcipotriol 0.005% vs. -BM vs. -Calcipotriol with BM	NR	Ointment	-Marked/good repigmentation was 6.7%, 13.3%, and 26.7% for calcipotriol, BM, and combination, respectively -The combination reduced the negative effects of BM
Leone 2006 [93]	Prospective randomized open-label study	Non-segmental	32	Generalized and symmetrical	12 months	-Tacalcitol 4 µg/g with NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB	II, III, IV	Ointment	-35.9% good repigmentation for both -Tacalcitol improved the treatment and repigmentation occurred earlier
Lotti 2008 [94]	Prospective open study	Segmental and non-segmental	470	Vulgaris vitiligo	6 months	-NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB with -Tacrolimus/Pimecrolimus/BM/Calcipotriol 50 µg/g -/L-phenylalanine	I, II, III, IV	Ointment	-75.6% excellent repigmentation achieved for calcipotriol combination. -BM is the most effective combination
Lu-Yan 2006 [95]	Randomized single-blind within a patient-controlled trial	Segmental and non-segmental	38	Symmetrical, localized, vulgaris	8 weeks	-Tacalcitol 2 µg/g with MEL vs. -MEL	NR	Cream	25.7% excellent repigmentation in the combination (early pigmentation with lower total dosage) to 5.7% for excimer monotherapy
Oh 2011 [96]	Prospective randomized single-blinded paired comparative study	Non-segmental	20	Localized	16 weeks	-Tacalcitol 20 µg/g vs. -MEL vs. -Tacalcitol with MEL	NR	Ointment	-Limited/poor effects on repigmentation for tacalcitol either monotherapy or in combination
Onita 2004 [97]	Prospective open trial	Segmental and non-segmental	27	Vulgaris vitiligo	NR	-Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) with PUVA	NR	Ointment	48% of patients improved > 30%(moderate)
Rodriguez 2009 [98]	Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study	Non-segmental	80	NR	4 months	-Tacalcitol 4 µg/g with sunlight exposure	NR	Ointment	There was no reduction of the size of the lesion < 25% (poor repigmentation)
Sahu 2016 [99]	Prospective open label right/left intraindividual trial	Non-segmental	30	Symmetrical vitiligo	24 weeks	-Tacalcitol 4 µg/g with NB-UVB vs. -NB-UVB	NR	Ointment	16.6% had moderate. 53.3% good 30% excellent repigmentation at the end of therapy
Salem 2023 [100]	Prospective comparative study	Segmental and non-segmental	25	Stable vitiligo	19 months	-Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) 0.5–2 mL with microneedles vs. -Microneedles	II, III, IV	Solution	52% excellent to good response in the combination
Vazquez 2003 [101]	Prospective open pilot study	Non-segmental	10	NR	NR	-Calcipotriene with PUVA	NR	Ointment	-The degree of repigmentation (moderate) was lower than that of (Parsad 1998)
Xing 2012 [102]	Prospective open uncontrolled trial	Segmental and non-segmental	31	Focal or generalized	12 weeks	-Calcipotriol 0.005% with BM	NR	Ointment	-9.7% had an excellent response. -The combination was effective and tolerated

Abbreviations: NR, Not Reported; PUVA, Psoralens Long Wave Ultraviolet Radiation; NB-UVB, Narrowband Ultraviolet Phototherapy; MEL, Monochromatic excimer light; BM, Betamethasone.