AbstractBackground: Vitiligo is an acquired, polygenic, multifactorial melanocytopenia of unknown etiology. This study was conducted to know the epidemiological patterns of vitiligo.
Methods: One hundred patients were included in the study over one and half-year period. Patients were diagnosed by clinical findings and Wood’s lamp. Each patient’s age, sex, age of onset, site and clinical type, disease activity, coexisting systemic or dermatological diseases, and family history were recorded. A complete blood count, routine biochemistry tests, complete urinalysis were done.
Results: The majority of patients were male (n = 58, 58%), and the rest females (n = 42, 42%). The age at onset of the condition varied from 3 months to 78 years. History of trauma or stress as was seen in 34% of patients; 13% had family history of vitiligo. In 56 patients vitiligo was generalized, whereas in 44 it was localized. The most common site was the lower limbs (42%), followed by the face (26%), upper limbs (16%), trunk (14%) and least was genitalia (2%).
Conclusion: The findings of this study are similar to those obtained by other authors, howing younger age of onset and generalized variety, the commonest clinical type of vitiligo.
Keywords: Vitiligo; Autoimmunity; Diabetes Mellitus.