Vitiligo and ocular findings: a study on possible associations

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the ocular findings in vitiligo patients and reveal any clinical feature that might suggest an association or a risk factor. BACKGROUND: Very few reports in the literature are available about the ocular findings in vitiligo and the possible associations of the ocular findings in vitiligo patients have not been studied so far. METHODS: A total of 45 patients with previously documented cutaneous vitiligo were examined for ocular findings. Demographic features including age, gender, duration of vitiligo, presence of associated autoimmune diseases, type of vitiligo and the anatomical distributions of vitiligo were recorded to evaluate a possible relationship with the ocular findings. Univariate and multivariate analyses as well as cluster analysis were performed. After description of the clusters, the Mann-Whitney U-test and Fisher's exact test were used to determine the variables. Concordance among the variables in each group was evaluated with the McNemar test. RESULTS: Ten patients had ocular findings that included anterior segment (iris) involvement, ring-like peripapillary atrophy around the optic nerve, atrophy of pigment epithelium, focal hypopigmented spots and diffuse hypopigmentation. The presence of periorbital vitiligo was significantly related to the ocular findings. Cluster analysis revealed concordances between periorbital and genitalial localizations of vitiligo and ocular findings. CONCLUSION: The number of patients and the range of ocular findings in our study are insufficient to make definite conclusions but anatomical localizations, primarily periorbital and to a lesser extent genitalial vitiligo, seem to be the most probably alerting features for ocular findings.