R. B. Saunderson, G. O. Fischer
The commonest conditions encountered in a vulval disease clinic are chronic vulvovaginal candidiasis, lichen sclero- sus, lichen planus, dermatoses such as psoriasis and eczema and vulval pain not explained by any of the previ- ous diagnoses.
This prospective study examines how these 6 conditions affect quality of life in new patients presenting pre and post menopause, and how they compare to each other in terms of impact on quality of life. The study uses the vali- dated instrument Vulval Quality of Life Index.
Subgroup analysis will be used to show the effect of sexual activity, anxiety and symptom severity on the overall score. The correlation between total and subgroup scores is com- pared to physician’s global assessment.
Patients whose scores for symptoms are low may still have a substantial total VQLI score due to anxiety, embarrass- ment and other issues specific to vulval disease. The aim of this presentation is to illustrate how to holistically man- age patients to cope with the unique demands of skin dis- ease as it affects the female genital area.