What may be at the pharmacy
Generic products are available. Dovonex is a familiar former brand name; the tube may show only calcipotriene.
US cost and coverage snapshot · checked August 16, 2026
Generic calcipotriene products are available; Dovonex is a familiar former brand name.
Vendor estimate checked August 16, 2026: roughly $55–$80 with a coupon for a common 60 g calcipotriene 0.005% cream prescription. Prices vary, and this is not a standard vitiligo treatment cost.
Coverage is plan-specific. Its FDA-approved indication is psoriasis, not vitiligo, so off-label use can affect coverage or authorization.
- GoodRx (opens in a new tab): Current discounted cash estimate for calcipotriene cream · vendor · low confidence · checked August 16, 2026
Patient-community context · anecdotal
What some people described online
The one linked discussion mentioned calcipotriene as part of a larger plan, making benefit and side-effect attribution impossible. One discussion cannot support a reliable community summary.
These are self-selected posts, not clinical evidence. Diagnoses, products, other treatments, and adherence cannot be verified. There is no denominator. The posts cannot establish efficacy, frequency, typical experience, safety, what caused an experience, or support a treatment recommendation.
These posts are registered as Tier 6 lived experience for question discovery. They are not citations supporting a treatment claim. Relationship status: not established.
- Community discussion · multi-treatment · March 2024Pseudonymous poster in an online support group · Lived experience - not evidence · published March 16, 2024 · checked August 16, 2026The author is pseudonymous. Their identity, product use, other treatments, adherence, and financial or organizational relationships cannot be verified.
Compare this topical with another option
Is calcipotriene approved for vitiligo?
No. The current US label is for plaque psoriasis, not vitiligo. Vitiligo guidelines found too little reliable evidence to treat topical vitamin D analogs as routine options. Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
Calcipotriene is the US name for calcipotriol. It is a vitamin D analog. Small studies have explored it mostly as part of a combination, so the exact product and context matter.
Questions for your clinician
- Why is this lower-confidence option being considered for me?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
- What evidence applies to the exact product, body area, and treatment pair?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
What label warnings and skin reactions should I understand?
The psoriasis label describes local reactions, an instruction not to use the cream on the face, and contraindications for hypercalcemia or vitamin D toxicity. It also gives calcium-related and ultraviolet precautions. Those label facts help define safety questions; they do not establish vitiligo benefit, support a self-directed combination, or predict personal risk. Evidence
Why this matters
The current label is useful for the exact product’s form, strength, contraindications, warnings, reactions, and package information. A prescriber must interpret those details in the person’s clinical context.
Questions for your clinician
- Which label warnings matter for my health history and other medicines?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
- How do the ultraviolet precautions affect any clinician-directed light-treatment plan?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
- Which changes should make me contact the care team?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
What should be clear before it enters my plan?
Treat calcipotriene as a clinician-selected, lower-confidence off-label option - not a do-it-yourself substitute. Ask what goal it serves, what evidence supports the exact combination, and what would change the decision. Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
Results for one drug do not prove that a combination works. The prescriber should name the goal and explain why this product is being considered despite the evidence limits.
Questions for your clinician
- What specific goal would this add-on serve?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
- How will we know whether the decision needs to change?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
Evidence and update context
This optional layer shows the evidence boundary reviewed for this page as of 2026-08-20.
- What this evidence supports
- Calcipotriene is the US name for calcipotriol. It is a vitamin D analog. Small studies have explored it mostly as part of a combination, so the exact product and context matter.
- What it does not establish
- Limited evidence does not establish whether calcipotriene adds benefit for a particular person, body area, age, or combination. A multi-treatment result cannot isolate what this medicine contributed.
Applicability check
Who was studied?
These fields show what the cited evidence reports about the people and body sites behind outcome or safety claims. “Not reported” means the reviewed source omitted the field; “Pending exact source review” means SteadySkin has not made that determination yet.
The psoriasis label describes local reactions, an instruction not to use the cream on the face, and contraindications for hypercalcemia or vitamin D toxicity. It also gives calcium-related and ultraviolet precautions. Those label facts help define safety questions; they do not establish vitiligo benefit, support a self-directed combination, or predict personal risk.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: This is explicitly gated as a safety claim, but exact population extraction is still pending. It cannot publish or support an estimate of individual risk until that review is complete.
The current calcipotriene label describes local skin reactions, calcium-related and ultraviolet precautions, an instruction not to use the cream on the face, and hypercalcemia or vitamin D toxicity contraindications in its labeled psoriasis context; those facts do not establish vitiligo benefit.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: The label is for psoriasis rather than vitiligo. Exact population and body-site extraction remains pending, and it cannot establish a vitiligo-specific adverse-event rate or personal risk estimate.
Evidence behind this page
Sources
Each evidence badge opens the source and its limits. The full list stays available here.
- GoodRxPatient education · Patient education, tier 5Relevant relationship disclosed
- Published
- SteadySkin last checked
What this source can and cannot tell you
Why the independence label says this: GoodRx is a commercial pharmacy-price and coupon marketplace; displayed prices can vary by prescription, pharmacy, location, and time.
What this source supports
Supports only the dated discounted-cash estimate recorded for a common calcipotriene cream prescription.
What it does not support
It does not establish vitiligo benefit, insurance coverage, coupon eligibility, or a personal price.
Claim-specific review for this source is still in progress. Only the source-level evidence and limits are shown here.
- DailyMed, U.S. National Library of MedicineRegulatory · Regulatory / guideline, tier 1Relevant relationship disclosed
- Published
- SteadySkin last checked
What this source can and cannot tell you
Why the independence label says this: The National Library of Medicine hosts DailyMed. The product company submits the label to FDA, so it is authoritative for product labeling but not independent vitiligo evidence.
What this source supports
Supports the psoriasis indication, 0.005% cream strength, current tube presentations, local irritation and dermatitis reports, the instruction not to use the cream on the face, contraindications for hypercalcemia or vitamin D toxicity, and calcium-related and ultraviolet precautions.
What it does not support
It does not approve calcipotriene for vitiligo, establish vitiligo benefit, or support a self-directed combination.
Claim-specific review for this source is still in progress. Only the source-level evidence and limits are shown here.
- British Journal of Dermatology (Eleftheriadou V, et al.)Guideline · Regulatory / guideline, tier 1Independent source
- Published
- SteadySkin last checked
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports the clinical history and assessment domains, evaluation of associated autoimmune conditions, its recommendation for thyroid function and antithyroid antibody screening, current classification context, treatment-option map, psychosocial assessment, medical photography and the limits of pediatric evidence. Its classification table defines mucosal vitiligo as the oral or genital mucosae. One mucosal site alone is filed as undetermined or unclassified. Its differential diagnosis table lists genital or extragenital lichen sclerosus among the conditions that can be mistaken for vitiligo. That table also lists eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus, pityriasis alba and piebaldism. It calls autoimmunity a contributor to the pathogenesis of vitiligo. It reports an earlier review finding a possible negative impact on intimacy and sexual functioning. It tells clinicians to discuss the psychosocial impact of living with the condition.
What it does not support
It was designed for UK care and reviewed literature through May 2019; it does not establish a universal testing plan, prescribe an individual plan, or establish current US labeling or coverage. Its differential diagnosis table is a list, not a method a reader can apply to their own skin. It does not say how to tell any two of those conditions apart. It gives no figure for how often vitiligo affects genital skin.
Claim-specific review for this source is still in progress. Only the source-level evidence and limits are shown here.