Clinical characteristics of childhood vitiligo in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Background: Literature specifically documenting clinical characteristics of childhood vitiligo are few when compared to the documentation in adults in Nigeria. This study aims to document the clinical characteristics of childhood vitiligo.Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of 35 children diagnosed to have vitiligo from January of 2005 to December of 2010 at the dermatology outpatient clinic of the University College Hospital, (UCH) Ibadan. A proforma was used to extract socio-demographic variables and clinical features from the chats. Ethical clearance for the study was given by the research and ethics committee of the hospital.Results: Over the 5 year period, 35 out of 264 children were diagnosed to have vitiligo giving an incidence of 13.3 %. The children were made up of 34.3% males and 65.7% females. At presentation, 71.4% of the children were aged 0-10 years. In 80% of the children, age at onset of vitiligo was before age 10 years especially at age 6-10 years. The commonest area of onset was the face/scalp (51.4%) and the commonest type of vitiligo was segmental. Severity of vitiligo was <9% in 97.1% of cases. Vitiligo was in an exposed part of the body in 88.6% of the children. Only females had the genitalia as area of onset of vitiligo.Conclusions: Childhood vitiligo is mainly segmental, re-pigments well and occurs more in females. Only females have the genital area as the area of onset.