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Review
. 2021 Jun 22:14:681-690.
doi: 10.2147/CCID.S315804. eCollection 2021.

Quality of Life and Psychological Effects of Port-Wine Stain: A Review of Literature

Rungsima Wanitphakdeedecha  1   2 , Janice Natasha C Ng  1 , Chadakan Yan  1 , Woraphong Manuskiatti  1 , Tatchalerm Sudhipongpracha  2 , Tatre Jantarakolica  3
Affiliations
Review

Quality of Life and Psychological Effects of Port-Wine Stain: A Review of Literature

Rungsima Wanitphakdeedecha et al. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Port-wine stain (PWS) is a congenital malformation that does not resolve spontaneously and can cause a physiological or psychological burden to the patients. At present, most of the studies done on PWS are focused on the treatment rather than the quality of life and psychological effects of the disease.

Material and methods: A comprehensive literature search was done in MEDLINE using PubMed database, Embase®, and Cochrane. All observational studies were included in this review.

Results: A total of 17 relevant articles with 2,135 PWS patients were included in this review. There were 36 measurement tools used to assess the quality of life and the psychological effects among PWS patients. The results showed that patients with facial PWS had a significant negative effect on their quality of life and had also suffered from psychological disabilities. The PWS lesion tends to worsen with age and may cause further adaptation problems towards the social environment, especially in children.

Conclusion: Early treatment, psychological assistance, and patient support are the key management in improving the quality of life of patients with PWS. Quality of life must be regularly assessed together with the improvement of treatment.

Keywords: port-wine stain; psychological effects; quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest for this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Clinical photographs of facial PWS among patients. Clinical photographs of facial PWS among patients in different age groups (A) a 4-month infant (B) a 5-year old child and (C) a 51-year old woman.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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