Introduction & Objectives:Melasma is considered a major psychological and emotional problem especially in females. The Aim of this work is to study the epidemiology and clinical profile of melasma in Sohag Province, Upper Egypt.
Patients and Methods: This study was carried out on 205 patients with melasma attending Dermatology Outpatient Clinic of Sohag University Hospital during a period of six months (from April to September 2009). All cases were subjected for history taking and clinical examination.
Results: The incidence of melasma was 2%. Females were most commonly affected (92.2%) than males (7.8%). The main bulk of the studied patients were between 30 - < 40 years age (45.9%). The ages of patients ranged from 16 to 55 years in females with a mean ± SD (33.07 ± 12.23) years and from 19 to 51 years in males with a mean ± SD (31.7 ± 9.16) years. The duration of the disease ranged from 1 month to 15 years with a mean ± SD (30.57 ± 32.04) months. Patients from rural areas were 58% and those from urban areas were 42%.About 55.1% of patients had positive family history .About 71.7% of patients had positive history of sun exposure. Positive history of contraceptive pills intake was about 51.9% . Patients with medical diseases were 24.9% and 7.8% were suffering from liver diseases. About 73% of female patients had positive pregnancy history. In the studied group of patients, malar – centrofacial pattern accounted the largest percentage (36.6%).
Conclusion: This work emphasizes the epidemiology and clinical profile of melasma in Sohag Province which is a common problem in females during child bearing period.