Prevalence of melasma, quality-of-life impact and social stigmatization
Melasma is a common pigmentary disorder that can substantially affect a patient’s quality of life and social experiences. Using data from the multinational International Survey on Pigmentation Disorders Observational Tracking of 48 000 participants in 34 countries, we found that 11% reported melasma, with marked regional differences, a mean Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) of 8.4 and more than one-third having DLQI scores above 10. Over half of affected individuals reported concealing visible lesions and one-third avoided public contact, highlighting a significant yet often under-recognized burden of stigmatization.
Authors
- Brigitte Dréno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5574-5825)
- Anne‐Laure Demessant‐Flavigny (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3854-8851)
- Fatimata Ly
- Thierry Passeron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0797-6570)
- Andrew F Alexis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1351-9165)
- Sérgio Schalka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2425-7962)
- Jean Krutmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8433-1517)
- Jorge Ocampo‐Candiani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0213-0031)
- Chee Leok Goh
- Delphine Kerob
- Susana Puig
- Charles Taieb
- Wei Liu
- Hee Young Kang
- Akimichi Morita
- Caroline Le Floc’h
- Henry W Lim
Institutions
- Cornell University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Clinical and Experimental Dermatology
- Published
- 2026-06-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ced/llag130
- Primary Topic
- Dermatologic Treatments and Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00