Diagnosing Disorders of Hypopigmentation and Depigmentation in Patients with Skin of Color

Although hypopigmentation and depigmentation disorders of the skin occur in patients with all skin colors, they manifest differently and at different rates in people with skin of color. The stark contrast between involved and uninvolved skin in patients with darker skin tones contributes to a higher psychosocial disease burden in this pa-tient population. Physicians have a responsibility to diagnose these disorders accurately by obtaining a comprehensive medical history and performing a detailed physical examination with a Wood's lamp, dermoscopy, and biopsy when indicated. Treat-ment should be based on the underlying cause of the disorder, and an alternative diagnosis may be made if repigmentation does not occur after treat-ment with particular therapeutic agents.