Clinical Characteristics of Vitiligo among Adult Patients at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals’ Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

Background: Vitiligo is a depigmentary skin disorder which occurs worldwide due to the loss of melanocytes in the skin of affected persons and it can affect the skin of any part of the body with varied clinical characteristics.

Aim: The aim of the study was to determine, in adults, the clinical spectrum and clinical characteristics of vitiligo and to also identify any precipitants amongst those affected.

Methods: All consecutive adult vitiligo patients attending the Dermatology clinics of the OAUTHC Ile-Ife who gave consent were recruited. A total of fifty patients were recruited for the study. A detailed history and physical examination was conducted for all the patients using a proforma to elicit socio-demographic and clinical data.

Results: The age of the patients with vitiligo at presentation ranged from 18 years to 72 years with mean age of 35 ± 17 years.Most of the patients (56%) had generalized vitiligo. The face was the predominant part of the body in which the lesions occurred in most of the patients as forty-one patients (82%) had the lesions on their face and the areas of the face mostly affected were the forehead and cheek. The initial lesions were also located on the face in 52% of the patients.

There was a positive family history in 12% of the patients. A proportion of the patients noticed that their lesions were likely to have been precipitated by various stressful events such as physical trauma, emotional stress, severe sun burn and pregnancy which were not related to the clinical spectrum of vitiligo.

Conclusion: The clinical spectrum and clinical characteristics of vitiligo in this study are mostly similar to the findings documented from previous studies. Vitiligo could also be precipitated by factors such as physical and emotional stress which do not affect the clinical spectrum in affected patients.