Vitiligo is a disorder of skin pigmentation. It affects approximately 1% of the world's population. Vitiligo occurs equally between the sexes with no racial predilections. The majority of cases are acquired and arise between the second and third decades of life. Acquired vitiligo has an unpredictable clinical course. Congenital vitiligo is rare with few reported cases. Due to the rarity of cong...

Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in several biological processes, but its role in human melanogenesis is still not well understood. Exposure to UVA and UVB induces nitric oxide production in keratinocytes and melanocytes through the activation of constitutive nitric oxide synthase, increasing tyrosinase activity and melanin synthesis, whereas inducible nitric oxide synthase over expression might b...

BACKGROUND Vitiligo is characterized by the death of melanocytes in the skin. This is associated with the presence of T cell infiltrates in the lesional borders. However, at present, there is no detailed and systematic characterization on whether additional cellular or molecular changes are present inside vitiligo lesions. Further, it is unknown if the normal appearing non-lesional skin of viti...

Our aim was to draw attention of clinicians, dermatovenereologists and ophthalmologists to the possible association of vitiligo and ocular findings characteristic of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). According to our clinical experience, POAG is relatively often diagnosed or previously diagnosed in patients treated for vitiligo. We found no literature report directly connecting vitiligo and P...

Many therapeutic modalities are available for vitiligo treatment. However, there is a lack of consensus about methods that assess the treatment outcome of the disorder. Comparative studies of various treatments of vitiligo, relied until recently on subjective methods based on an approximate evaluation of the extent of depigmented areas. Recently objective modalities that could be used to assess...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have discussed attitudes of vitiligo patients toward their disease. However, no studies have addressed this issue from the public's point of view. OBJECTIVE To explore the perceptions, attitudes, and misconceptions of the public toward vitiligo. METHODS A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to attendees of primary health care centers in Riyadh, Saudi ...

BACKGROUND There are concerns that there is no uniform approach towards the management of vitiligo. Objectives To explore attitudes and strategies for the management of vitiligo among dermatologists. METHODS A self-administered questionnaire containing 22 questions was distributed to 160 dermatologists attending a national dermatology conference in 2007. RESULTS One hundred and twelve derma...

BACKGROUND Both vitiligo and psoriasis are chronic inflammatory autoimmune diseases with genetic elements. OBJECTIVE To estimate the frequencies of psoriasis in vitiligo patients and vice versa and to compare them with healthy controls. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 1000 subjects were included, 250 of them had vitiligo, 250 had psoriasis, and 500 were healthy controls. Measurement of the ...

A major concern for cancer vaccines targeting self-tumor antigens is the risk of autoimmune sequelae. Although antitumor immunity correlates with autoimmune disease in some preclinical models, the mechanism(s) linking antitumor immunity and subsequent autoimmune pathology remain(s) to be determined. In the current study, we demonstrated that intradermal (i.d.) immunization with a recombinant ad...

Background. There are limited epidemiological studies evaluating the effect of age at onset on disease features in vitiligo. Objectives. To identify factors associated with adult onset vitiligo in comparison with childhood onset vitiligo. Patients and Methods. We retrospectively collected medical records of 191 patients. Such records included clinical examination, personal and familial medical ...