Quality of life scales in pigmentary disorders

Abstract

Pigmentary disorders, especially vitiligo and melasma, are cosmetically disfiguring and have a profound impact on life quality. Various quality of life tools and questionnaires have been devised in order to objectively quantify this psychosocial morbidity, which can guide towards more comprehensive patient management. These include generic measures, dermatology-specific measures, and disease-specific measures. The latter are mostly developed for melasma and vitiligo. Most of these tools measure the impact on life quality across various psychosocial domains, particularly feelings of embarrassment about appearances and societal stigma. The present review consolidates the available literature on quality of life scales used in pigmentary disorders.

Keywords

• melasma
• quality of life
• vitiligo