Abstract

Objective: To explore and the influence of melasma on the lives of patients dealing with it, analysis of the relationship between Melasma Area and Severity Index (MASI) and Melasma quality of life scale (MelasQoL) scores, and indentification of factors that affect quality of life (QOL) among melasma patients.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional analytic study involving 470 patients with melasma. The diagnosis was made based on history, clinical features and by Wood’s lamp examination. MASI score was used to assess the severity of melasma. Subjects answered 10 items of MelasQol questionnaire. All data were processed and statistically analysed by Spearman correlation test to determine the association of MASI score with MelasQoL. Association of QOL with clinical pattern and depth of lesion were analysed by Mann Whitney test
Results: There was significant correlation between MASI score and MelasQoL (p=0.797; r=0.049). There was no association of QOL with clinical pattern type (p=0.12) and depth of lesion (p=0.92).
Conclusion: There was significant correlation between the modified MASI score and DLQI score. This study demonstrated that melasma has a strong impact on the emotional domain of QOL, resulting especially from feelings about skin appearance.

Key words: Melasma, quality of life, severity of disease.