Koebner phenomenon in vitiligo in an Indian population

Conflict of interest: none declared. The incidence of Koebner phenomenon (KP) has been reported as occurring in 21–62% of patients with vitiligo, but is usually high.1 It has also been reported mainly in nonsegmental vitiligo (NSV). We undertook a retrospective study involving case records of patients with vitiligo over the past decade to estimate the incidence of KP in an Indian population and to study its clinical significance. While making the diagnosis of vitiligo, the definitions proposed by Vitiligo European Task Force (VETF) were followed.2 The diagnosis of KP was based on clinical history and physical examination. Patients were asked directly if the vitiligo patches appeared secondary to trauma or not, and were also asked questions about the presence of linear streaks of depigmentation if these were seen on examination.3 The Mann–Whitney U‐test and Wilcoxon W statistic were used to find any significant differences in the baseline demographic variables between the groups of patients with vitiligo who displayed KP and those who did not. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 17.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), and significance was set at P < 0.05.