Frequency of Benign and Malignant Tumors in Localized Vitiligo in Comparison to Generalized and Universal Vitiligo

Abstract

Background: Autoimmune diseases like pemphigus and systemic lupus erythematosus are protective against skin malignancies like basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Objective: As vitiligo is an autoimmune diseases, the aim of the present work is to record the frequency of all benign and malignant skin tumors among patients with different severity of vitiligo and to be compared with the skin tumors in healthy control. Patients and Methods: This is a case series, descriptive study done in the Department of Dermatology—Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, during the period from May 2014-May 2015. History was taken from each patient with vitiligo regarding age, gender, duration, personal and family history of vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases such as diabetes mellitus, thyroid dysfunction, and alopecia areata. Patients were assessed for past and present history of photodermatosis and any skin cancers. Healthy control was considered. Results: Three hundred and fifty patients with vitiligo were included in this study: 50 patients with universal vitiligo, 100 patients with generalized vitiligo, and 200 patients with localized vitiligo as well as 500 subjects as a healthy control. The ages of all studied subjects ranged between 31 and 77 years. Twenty four(48%) patients with universal vitiligo were males and 26 (52%) were females; 49(49%) patients with generalized vitiligo were males and 51(51%) were females; 101(50.5%) patients with localized vitiligo were males and 99(49.5%) were females and 235(47%) of control were males and 265(53%) were females. All skin tumors were seen to be high in healthy subjects and lower or absent in patients with vitiligo. Also patients with mild vitiligo had a higher frequency of skin tumors including benign and malignant than patients with severe vitiligo especially in patients with universal vitiligo. In addition, no photosensitivity or actinic reticuloid was detected in patients with vitiligo. Conclusions: Vitiligo especially generalized and universal type as an autoimmune disease had a protective action against photodamage, photosensitivity and skin tumors whether benign or malignant.