In what could be a tremendous breakthrough in the world of medical science, researchers were able to virtually cure vitiligo in a female patient by using a drug that is used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Vitiligo is a common skin condition that involves the loss of pigmentation, resulting in pale and unsightly patches of skin often on the face and hands, and it affects millions of people. If this new treatment is verified as a workable solution, it could completely change the way that vitiligo is treated — a disease that is famous for causing the change in skin color of pop star Michael Jackson, according to an Economic Times report.

The report quotes Brett King, who works as an assistant professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine and was the lead author of this study, as saying that researchers were able to use a drug called tofacitinib, typically used for arthritis, and it was successful at removing nearly all white spots form the face and hands — and even most of the rest of the body — for a 53-year-old female patient who had seen the condition spread in recent years. And it did this without creating any harmful side effects.

This could be a huge boon for people suffering from the relatively symptom-less but unsightly pigmentation condition. Today, vitiligo patients undergo a treatment of steroid creams and light therapy, but it’s a regimen that doesn’t have consistent results.

But in this case, researchers administered tofacitinib to the patient who had white spots on her face and hands and had seen the disease advance in recent years. Within just two months of treatment, there was partial repigmentation. And after five months, the white spots were almost entirely gone, especially from the visible areas of the face and hands.

Although more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness and safety, it’s a promising start.

The findings were published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.