SummaryIn vitiligo, areas of skin lose their colour and become completely white. These white areas, which are often irregular like islands on a map, usually stand out against the normal skin around them, and are very obvious in individuals with a naturally pigmented (brown or black) skin, or in white-skinned people with a tan. People with vitiligo can become very embarrassed and withdrawn, not wanting to go out or to meet people; as a result, the quality of their day-to-day life can suffer. Vitiligo affects between 0.5% and 2% of the population and treatment does not work very well. This study from South Korea looked at what factors to do with vitiligo most affected patients' quality of life. It was a large study involving more than 1,100 adults from 21 different hospitals. Patients filled in a detailed questionnaire called the Skindex-29 questionnaire and members of the study team examined the patients' skin. From the questionnaire results, what concerned patients most were whether the vitiligo was going to get worse and whether it was a serious condition. They were also concerned about how loved ones felt about it, and over half the patients felt depressed about their condition. Involvement of large areas of the body, or areas of the body that other people could easily see, particularly affected quality of life. Vitiligo is far from just a cosmetic problem: over a third of patients were affected emotionally even if the areas of vitiligo were normally covered up.