Introduction and Objectives: Vitiligo affects around 1-5% of world’s population and 8.8% have been reported in India. It is the most common de-pigmenting skin disease. Despite it being relatively common, there is still no effective treatment.
The primary objective of this study is to evaluate response to homoeopathic treatment in vitiligo with respect to Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (VASI), Dermatology Quality of Life Score and Vitiligo European Task Force (VEFT).
Materials and Method: Vitiligo Cases attended NHRIMH; Kottayam from June 2015 has been taken for evaluation. Patients of either gender belonging to age group 18-60 yrs are selected from the OPDs. The cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria and diagnosis confirmed by the dermatologist as per ICD10 classification are evaluated. The follow up of the patients were done periodically at fixed intervals and the improvement was assessed under the supervision of the dermatologist according to VASI, VEFT and DLQI. Photographic record of lesion is maintained in each follow-up. All the cases are followed up more than one year to assess cessation of spread and long term permanence of regimentation at follow up.
Result: Out of 32 cases completed one year follow up, 3 cases have shown marked improvement, 8 cases have moderate improvement, 4 cases are having mild improvement and 17 cases did not shown any significant improvement. A repeated measures ANOVA with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction determined that mean VASI differed statistically significantly between time points (F (1.402, 43.460) = 14.269, P < 0.05, partial η2= 0.315). Post hoc tests using the Bonferroni correction revealed that Homoeopathic treatment elicited a statistically significant reduction in VASI from 7th follow up onwards.There was significant difference in VASI scores, VEFT scores (χ2(12)=137.018, P<0.05) and DLQI scores(χ2(12)=182.166, P<0.05)
Discussion & Conclusion: Thus homoeopathic medicines are found to be very effective in the management of vitiligo permanently and safely.
Keywords: Homoeopathy, Vitiligo, VEFT, VASI, DLQI.
