Incidence And Presentation Of Melasmaamong Patients Attending VISIA Imaging At The First Affiliated Hospital Of Chongqing Medical University

Background: Melasma is a chronic hyper melanosis which is commonly acquired in sun-exposed areas.There are few epidemiological studies in medical literature concerning these patients.Objective: To investigate incidence and presentation of melasma in Chinese patients visiting the first affiliated hospital of Chongqing Medical University.Methods A total of 431 female who attended Laser department for VISIA imaging from July 2019 to January 2020 were included.From the records we obtained patients diagnosed with melasma and its presentation for each patient.We used the collected information to establish incidence using the SPSS Version 23.Results: Of the women included,57.5%(n=248)had melasma.Age was the good predictor of the disease as it was diagnosed more in older patients(96%)than in younger patients(5.6%).It was 1.6% of the patients(7/431)only who developed melasma before the age of thirty years.56.8% of melasma patients presented a centro-facial melasma phenotype,31.1% a malar,and 12.0% had a mandibular phenotype.The onset of melasma was commonly on cheeks(39.5%),followed by nose(25.4%),forehead(14.1%),mandible(12.0%),and upper lip(8.8%).Conclusion: This study identified – for the first – the incidence of melasma among the Chinese population.A population based epidemiological study is to investigate the prevalence and factors triggering the occurrence of melasma among Chinese population.