A case report of the first application of culture epithelial autograft (JACE^®) for giant congenital melanocytic nevus after its approval in Japan

In Japan, the JACE^® cultured epidermal autograft (CEA) was approved and covered by public healthcare insurance for use in the treatment of giant congenital melanocytic nevus (GCMN) in 2016. We herein report the results of the application of JACE^® after curettage and Q-switched ruby laser therapy. The current patient was the first patient with GCMN to be treated with JACE^® since its approval. A 3-month-old girl had a hairy GCMN of 9.5 cm in diameter from her cheek to her temple on the left side of her face. We first performed curettage of the nevus on the temple and applied irradiation using a Q-switched ruby laser; however, erosion relapsed at 2 months after first surgery. After preparing JACE^®, we performed curettage a second time at 7 months with irradiation of a Q-switched ruby laser and the application of the CEA. The CEA took successfully and the wound was completely epithelized at 1 week after grafting. Re-pigmentation is an important issue that remains to be solved; however, overcoming this would allow for a deeper abrasion or more intense laser irradiation to be performed in cases in which CEA will be subsequently applied.