title: Clinical course of segmental vitiligo: a retrospective study of eighty-seven patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitiligo is an acquired disorder characterized by a progressive loss of melanocytes, which is difficult to manage and has an unknown prognosis. The subtype of segmental vitiligo (SV) has been established but it has not been adequately characterized.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To collect long-term follow-up data for evaluating the clinical course of SV.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 87 patients who were diagnosed with SV and were monitored at a clinic. Patients were classified into the following three groups according to disease activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the patients with SV, 63.2% had stable disease, 14.9% had disease recurrence between two and four years after disease onset, and 21.8% had disease recurrence at four or more than four years after disease onset. Among the 44 patients (50.2%) who were monitored continuously over a four-year period, 19 (43.2%) experienced a recurrence at four or more than four years after disease onset.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that, contrary to previous reports, some patients with SV may not experience disease stability over an extended period of time. Disease recurrence can occur after years of stability, and we propose that long-term follow-up data can be used to characterize SV. This information about the clinical course of SV has implications for treatment and prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Hye
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Joo-Heung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jun-Mo
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong-Youn
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Dermatology, Loyola University Strich School of Medicine, LaGrange Park, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Park
keywords: Prognosis; Recurrence; Segmental; Vitiligo