Salman Haseeb, Hira Tariq, Saelah Batool, Natasha Rehman, Sumara Rashid, Faria Asad, Shahbaz Aman, Atif Majeed.
Understanding Vitiligo as a Psychosocial Dilemma.
J Pak Assoc Derma Jan ;33(1):184-9.

Objective To assess the impact of vitiligo on psychosocial well-being of patients using Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) score and to estimate the frequency of patients having significant effect of vitiligo on their Quality of Life. Methods This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at the Department of Dermatology, Services Hospital, Lahore over six months. Physical examination of the patients was done and DLQI questionnaires in Urdu were filled in by the patients. Total scores were calculated and effect on psychosocial well-being of patients was noted as No impact (0-1), minimal impact (2-5), Moderate impact (6-10), Very huge impact (11-20) and Extremely huge impact (21-30). The higher the score, the more the quality of life impaired. Outcome variables i-e mean DLQI score and frequency of significant effect on quality of life was recorded on proforma. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results The mean age of patients was 33.45±10.21 years. Out of 200, there were 91 (45.5%) males and 109 (54.5%) females. The mean duration of symptoms was 2.88±1.34 years. The mean DLQI score was 16.78±8.31. Out of 200, quality of life of 177 (88.5%) patients was significantly affected by vitiligo.   Conclusion Vitiligo profoundly effects daily life of majority of patients. The disease has a tremendous impact on everyday life and self-esteem of most of the patients. Key words Vitiligo, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Quality of life

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