Assessment of Impact of Vitiligo and its Distribution on Psychosocial Life: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Vitiligo is a common depigmenting disorder of skin/mucosa. Its aetiology is multifactorial. Clinically, it presents as milky white macules as a result of loss of melanocytes from skin, hair or both. It does not cause any physical hindrance but can cause cosmetic deformity, which has a serious effect on patient’s quality of life.

Aim: To evaluate and compare the psychosocial impact on vitiligo patients having lesions on exposed and unexposed site using Vitiligo Impact Scale (VIS)-22.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 70 vitiligo patients attending the Outpatient Department (OPD) of Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India, over a period of six months between October 2020 to March 2021. Patients were categorised into two groups i.e., exposed and non exposed group. VIS-22 scores were calculated and effect on quality of life in vitiligo patients was calculated. Demographic data and clinical characteristics were also documented. Appropriate statistical software, including Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 was used for statistical analysis and Chi-square test was applied.

Results: A total of 70 patients (24 males and 46 females) were enrolled in this study who were similar in demographic profile. A mean VIS score in exposed group was 31.51 and in non exposed group was 21.45 which indicated large effect and moderate effect on their psychosocial life respectively. Mean score of each question was calculated, with highest mean score of 2.68, showing that patients were worried regarding the progression of disease. Most patients felt that others do not think that the disease spreads by touch and this was indicated by the mean score of 0.75.

Conclusion: In this study, it was seen that patients having lesions on exposed sites had a greater impact on quality of life, interpersonal relationships and patients felt more depressed as compared to those on non exposed sites.