Where
Plot No D13B, Wellington Rd, Vikrampuri Colony, Karkhana, Secunderabad, Telangana 500009.
- Serves Trimulgherry, West Marredpally, Bowenpally, Alwal
- Formerly BNR Skin & Vitiligo Hospital
Hyderabad · Vitiligo surgery
Melanocyte transplant in Hyderabad
Surgical repigmentation for vitiligo that has stopped moving: melanocyte cell transplant, punch grafting, blister grafting and follicular unit transplant, under local anaesthetic, at one clinic in Secunderabad, by the dermatosurgeon who examines you. The first appointment decides whether you qualify, and a fair proportion of people are asked to wait.
45 years in dermatologyDermatologist & dermatosurgeonKarkhana, SecunderabadBooking on WhatsApp
At a glance
- Procedures
- Melanocyte transplant, punch, blister, FUT
- Who qualifies
- Stable 12 months; no koebnerisation
- Anaesthesia
- Local; home the same day
- Where
- Karkhana, Secunderabad, one address
- Visits
- Assessment, procedure, review
- Colour appears
- Weeks; matures over months
Why here
Assessed and operated by the same dermatosurgeon.
The practice began as a vitiligo hospital and the surgical list has never left it. Most vitiligo in Hyderabad is treated with creams and light, which is correct for most patches. Surgery is for the ones those cannot reach: lips, fingertips, knuckles, ankles, and any patch whose hairs have turned white, because the pigment reservoir that light works by recruiting has gone.
The person who examines you under the Wood’s lamp is the person who would operate. That matters more than it sounds, because the decision that decides the result is made at the examination, not in theatre: a graft placed into disease that is still active is destroyed by the same immune process that took the original pigment.
Ask directly whether you qualify and you get a direct answer. Often it is ‘not yet’, with a plan to get you there.
Before you decide
Who is treating you, and what his patients said.
Dr. (Lt Col) Khagendra Varada
- 45 years in dermatology and dermatosurgery
- 25 of them in the Indian Army Medical Corps
- MBBS, Osmania Medical College
- Dip. Practical Dermatology, Cardiff · Dip. Dermatology, AAAM
Reg. No. 10461, Hyderabad State Medical Council
Full background →“I have been going pillar to post to get my son cured of his white spot on his left side of lip and chin. It appeared 8 years back. I was told it’s special type of nerve vitiligo which has no cure. After reporting to him he told us that it is SEGMENTAL VITILIGO and unlikely and difficult to be cleared by medications alone. He suggested for surgical melanocyte transplant… I was amazed after around one month that he started rapidly getting pigmentation. I wholeheartedly suggest please do not waste time like I did.”
“Dark spots are seen in one month… Even before perticular treatment for vitiligo, great”
The operation
What a melanocyte transplant involves.
A thin shaving of your own pigmented skin is taken from the thigh, separated into a suspension of individual pigment cells, and applied to the patch after its surface has been prepared. A small donor area covers a much larger one.
- 1Donor skin shaved
- 2Cells separated out
- 3Patch surface prepared
- 4Colour returns
Done under local anaesthetic as a day case at the clinic. The colour that grows in is your own, because the cells are your own; it matures over weeks to months and is judged at three months, not three weeks.
- Donor skin shaved
- Cells separated out
- Patch surface prepared
- Colour returns
Illustration, not a photograph.
Choosing the operation
Which graft for which patch
All four move your own pigment cells. They differ in how much area one donor site can cover and in how fine the result is, so the patch chooses the technique.
| Technique | Suits | Donor site | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melanocyte transplant | Larger stable patches on face, trunk, limbs | Thigh; a thin shave the size of a coin covers many times its area | Best area-to-donor ratio; colour blends over months |
| Punch grafting | Small patches; fingers, ankles, knees | Thigh or buttock; 1–2 mm plugs | Simple and durable; can leave a cobblestoned surface |
| Blister grafting | Lips, eyelids, small facial patches | Thigh; suction-raised blisters | Fine colour match; limited area per sitting |
| Follicular unit transplant | Patches with white hair; eyebrow, beard, scalp | Scalp | Repigments the hair as well as the skin; the only answer to leucotrichia |
How each technique works, step by step, is on the graft surgery page. This page is about having it done here.
The day itself
What happens at the clinic
Assessment, on a separate visit
History, Wood’s lamp, dated photographs, and a frank answer on stability. Surgery is never booked at the first look; the examination is what protects the result.
Local anaesthetic, then the donor site
The thigh or buttock is numbed and the donor skin taken: a thin shave for a cell transplant, small plugs for punch grafting, suction blisters for blister grafting.
The patch is prepared and the graft placed
The surface of the patch is removed to bare the layer the cells need to settle into, the graft or suspension is applied, and both sites are dressed.
Home the same day; review after healing
Dressings stay undisturbed for several days. A dressing check follows, then colour is reviewed at six to eight weeks and again at three months, when the result can honestly be judged.
Documented in clinic
A punch graft series, photographed here.
One case from this clinic, published with the patient’s written consent. It shows what a graft looks like as colour spreads outward from each plug, and how long that takes. Results differ from person to person; this is what happened to this patient, not a promise about you.
During surgery
After
Small grafts are placed into the pale patch, and colour then spreads outwards from each one — which is why the later photograph looks speckled before it evens out. There is no before photograph for this case; the first frame is the procedure.
What it costs
Quoted per procedure, in writing, after the examination.
Surgery here is priced as a procedure with its own consent and its own costing, not as an add-on inside a light-therapy package. The figure depends on the area to be covered, the technique the patch needs, the theatre time and, for punch grafting, the number of sittings. It is given to you in writing once those are known.
The consultation fee is fixed at ₹1,199 + GST in person, or ₹699 + GST by video first, and is published because it is the same for everyone. A treatment price quoted before anyone has judged your stability would be an advertisement, not information.
How pricing works on this siteNo package before an examination
A course sold before stability has been judged is pressure to proceed with a graft that may fail.
Review visits are stated up front
The quote says which reviews it includes, so there is no second bill for being looked at.
Travelling for it
If you are coming from outside Hyderabad, or outside India.
- Send photographs first: daylight, close and wide, of every patch, on WhatsApp
- Say when each patch appeared and when it last changed
- Send older photographs if you have them; they date the stability
- Take a video consultation before booking travel: it settles whether the trip is warranted
- Plan two visits: assessment, then the procedure on a separate day
- Ask at assessment which reviews can be done by photograph, and which need you here
- Be prepared to be told to wait: it is a common outcome, and the right one
Where to book
One clinic, in Secunderabad
Consulting rooms, phototherapy and the surgical list at one address in Secunderabad. The practice was formerly known as BNR Skin & Vitiligo Hospital.
How to book
On WhatsApp: one number, answered by the clinic team, who confirm a time and say what to bring.
- Photographs welcome before you travel
- Video consultation arranged the same way
What surgery does not do
It repigments the patch it treats. It does not cure vitiligo, does not stop new patches appearing elsewhere, and does not remove the need for review. Anyone describing it as a permanent cure is overstating it.
Questions patients actually ask
Vitiligo surgery in Hyderabad
Is melanocyte transplant done in Hyderabad?
Yes, at this clinic in Karkhana, Secunderabad: melanocyte cell transplant, punch grafting, blister grafting and follicular unit transplant for white hair within a patch. All four are done by the dermatosurgeon who assesses you, under local anaesthetic, as day procedures.
Am I eligible for vitiligo surgery?
Only if your disease has been stable for about twelve months: no new patches, no expansion at any margin, and no white patches appearing where skin has been cut or scratched. That is judged at an examination with a Wood’s lamp and dated photographs, not from a description.
Segmental vitiligo that has burnt out is the classic candidate. Lips, fingertips and patches with white hair are the usual reasons for choosing surgery over light.
Melanocyte transplant or punch grafting: which is better?
Neither is better in general. Melanocyte transplant covers the largest area from the smallest donor site and blends well, so it suits larger patches. Punch grafting is simple and durable and suits small patches on fingers, ankles and knees, at the cost of a possible cobblestoned texture. The patch chooses.
How much does a melanocyte transplant cost in Hyderabad?
It is quoted per procedure, in writing, after the examination, because the price depends on the area, the technique and the theatre time. What is fixed is the consultation fee, ₹1,199 + GST in person or ₹699 + GST by video. The clinic does not sell surgery inside packages.
Does it hurt?
The procedure is done under local anaesthetic, so the operation itself is not felt. The donor site is sore for a few days, like a graze, and the dressings are the part most people find tedious rather than painful.
Can it be done on the lips or fingers?
Yes, and those are the sites where surgery is the appropriate first choice rather than a fallback, because they barely respond to light. Blister grafting suits the lips; punch grafting or cell transplant suits the fingers.
My vitiligo is still spreading. Can I have surgery now?
No. Grafting into active disease produces a failed graft and sometimes a new patch at the donor site. The spread is stopped medically first, photographs are taken so the twelve-month clock can be judged properly, and surgery follows once the disease has been quiet for that long.
References
The clinical statements on this page follow the guidance and evidence below. They are independent sources. None of them is connected to this clinic, and none of them sells the treatments described here.
- Consensus-based guidelines for surgical management of vitiligo, Vitiligo Task Force, IADVL Academy 2024–2025Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology
- Standard guidelines of care for vitiligo surgery, IADVL Dermatosurgery Task ForceIndian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology
- Vitiligo: diagnosis and treatmentAmerican Academy of Dermatology
- VitiligoDermNet (New Zealand Dermatological Society)
Keep reading
Related on this site
The first appointment is a diagnosis.
Not a treatment plan sold on the spot. Message the clinic and bring your history.