Management of vitiligo patients and attitude of dermatologists towards vitiligo.

As vitiligo does not cause any physical impairment, it is often considered unimportant by physicians. Vitiligo patients repeatedly experience disinterest from the medical world regarding their skin problem. A questionnaire survey was used to assess the management of vitiligo patients and the attitude of dermatologists towards vitiligo in Belgium. Vitiligo patients (n = 244) visiting an academic affiliated dermatology department were included and 454 out of 558 Belgian dermatologists returned a mailed questionnaire. Vitiligo patients do not often visit a doctor concerning their disease and do not often treat their disease. Disease severity as reported by the patient is correlated with the number of doctor visits (p = 0.001) but not to treatment of the disease. Information about the treatment and physician's encouragement to treat seem important in motivating patients to treat their vitiligo, but 50% of the patients were not adequately informed about their disease and its treatment during their first doctor visit. Today, nearly all the dermatologists report widely informing their patients, but only 36% of them encourage their patients to treat their disease, being pessimistic concerning expected treatment results. Interestingly, two thirds of the patients who ever treated their disease find it worthwhile.