Skin-disease impact on health-related quality of life. ≈ 2 minutes to complete. Free with attribution.
DLQI (Dermatology Life Quality Index) is a validated clinical instrument used to assess skin-disease impact on health-related quality of life. It is most often used for quality-of-life impact in any dermatological condition. The instrument contains 10 items. Typical administration time is ≈ 2 minutes.
Source / attribution: Finlay AY, Khan GK. Clin Exp Dermatol. 1994;19(3):210-216. © Cardiff University. Free for academic / clinical / non-commercial use with permission.
Quality-of-life impact in any dermatological condition. DLQI is part of standard practice in this setting because it provides a structured, replicable assessment that can be tracked over time and compared across patients or visits.
The instrument's primary construct — skin-disease impact on health-related quality of life — is operationalized through a fixed set of items, each with a defined response format. This standardisation is what allows DLQI scores to be compared meaningfully across clinicians, sites, and studies.
Like all screening or assessment instruments, DLQI is a structured aid — not a diagnostic test in isolation. Results should be interpreted alongside history, examination, and clinical context. Where a score crosses an actionable threshold, the next step is typically a more detailed clinical evaluation rather than a definitive diagnosis.
Answer all 10 items below to see your DLQI score and interpretation.
Each item is scored on a 4-point scale (0–3). Your score updates live as you answer.
All scoring runs in your browser. No data is sent anywhere — close the tab and the answers are gone.
DLQI uses simple summation: each item's selected response is converted to a numeric value, and the values are added to produce a total score. Reverse-scored items are inverted before summation.
Scoring notes: Cardiff University holds the copyright. Permission is required for commercial use.
The cutoffs below are drawn from the published validation literature. Always interpret in clinical context.
| Score range | Band | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 0–1 | No effect on patient's life | Skin condition does not interfere with daily life. |
| 2–5 | Small effect | Small impact on patient's life. |
| 6–10 | Moderate effect | Moderate impact; consider intensifying treatment. |
| 11–20 | Very large effect | Skin condition has a very large impact. |
| 21–30 | Extremely large effect | Severely affects all aspects of life. |
This is an illustrative walkthrough, not a real patient. Follow the same four steps with your own answers — or use the live calculator at the top of this page.
Read each question and choose the response that best fits. Each response has a number next to it — that number is the item's score. The example below uses illustrative answers.
| # | Item | Example response | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How itchy, sore, painful, or stinging has your skin been? | A little | 1 |
| 2 | How embarrassed or self-conscious have you been because of your skin? | A little | 1 |
| 3 | How much has your skin interfered with going shopping or looking after your home or garden? | A little | 1 |
| 4 | How much has your skin influenced the clothes you wear? | A little | 1 |
| 5 | How much has your skin affected any social or leisure activities? | A little | 1 |
| 6 | How much has your skin made it difficult for you to do any sport? | A little | 1 |
| 7 | Has your skin prevented you from working or studying — or how much of a problem at work / studies? | Not at all | 0 |
| 8 | How much has your skin created problems with your partner or close friends or relatives? | A little | 1 |
| 9 | How much has your skin caused any sexual difficulties? | Not at all | 0 |
| 10 | How much of a problem has the treatment for your skin been (e.g., mess, time)? | A little | 1 |
Add up all the item scores you noted in Step 1.
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 8
Find the row in the interpretation table whose range contains your total:
Total = 8 falls between 6 and 10 → Moderate effect
Moderate effect. Moderate impact; consider intensifying treatment.
A score is one input alongside history and examination. DLQI supports clinical judgment — it does not replace it.
Psychometric figures are drawn from the validation literature and may vary across clinical populations and translations.
If DLQI doesn't fit your context, related instruments in dermatology include:
| Scale | Measures | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| POEM | Atopic eczema severity over the past week | 7 | — |
| ODI | Self-reported low-back-pain functional disability | 10 | — |
| NDI | Self-reported neck-pain functional disability | 10 | — |
| Oxford Knee Score | Pain and function after total knee replacement | 12 | — |
| Oxford Hip Score | Pain and function after total hip replacement | 12 | — |
| LEFS | Function with lower-extremity musculoskeletal disorders | 20 | — |
| IPSS | Lower-urinary-tract symptoms in men | 7 | — |
| IIEF-5 / SHIM | Erectile dysfunction screen | 5 | — |
DLQI (Dermatology Life Quality Index) is a validated instrument that assesses skin-disease impact on health-related quality of life. Its primary clinical use is Quality-of-life impact in any dermatological condition. It takes about 2 minutes to complete, and the 10 items are summed to produce a total score.
DLQI typically takes about 2 minutes to administer. The exact duration varies a little depending on whether it is self-administered or completed with a clinician. Its brief format is part of what makes it practical for routine clinical use and for repeat administration when tracking change over time.
DLQI contains 10 items. Item scores are summed to produce the total. Scores run from 0 to 30, grouped into 5 interpretation bands from ‘No effect on patient's life’ up to ‘Extremely large effect’.
On the DLQI (total score 0–30), scores of 21–30 fall in the ‘Extremely large effect’ band — interpreted as: Severely affects all aspects of life. The full ladder is: 0–1 — No effect on patient's life: Skin condition does not interfere with daily life.; 2–5 — Small effect: Small impact on patient's life.; 6–10 — Moderate effect: Moderate impact; consider intensifying treatment.; 11–20 — Very large effect: Skin condition has a very large impact.; 21–30 — Extremely large effect: Severely affects all aspects of life. A higher score reflects a more severe presentation, and crossing a cutoff is a prompt to step up assessment or care — but these bands are screening thresholds, not diagnoses.
Scores of 0–1 fall in the ‘No effect on patient's life’ band: Skin condition does not interfere with daily life. A low score is reassuring but does not by itself rule out the underlying condition — if symptoms or clinical suspicion persist, reassess over time or use a complementary evaluation rather than relying on the number alone.
DLQI has reported Cronbach's α of 0.92 in validation samples and test–retest reliability of 0.96. Sensitive to treatment effects in psoriasis, eczema, and acne; minimum clinically important difference ≈ 4 points. Validated in > 30 languages. In practical terms, a Cronbach’s α around 0.92 indicates excellent internal consistency (the items hang together well), and a test–retest reliability of 0.96 means scores are strongly stable when the scale is repeated without real clinical change.
DLQI is free to use with attribution — clinical, educational, and research use is permitted provided the original source is credited. If you publish results or reproduce the scale, include the citation to the source paper.
Finlay AY, Khan GK. Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) — a simple practical measure for routine clinical use. Clin Exp Dermatol. 1994;19(3):210-216. This is the original publication for the DLQI — the reference to cite when reporting results.
No. DLQI is a structured assessment aid, not a diagnostic test. Its proper role is Quality-of-life impact in any dermatological condition — it standardizes assessment and flags who needs closer evaluation, but the result must be weighed alongside history, examination, and clinical context. When a score conflicts with your clinical impression, clinical judgment takes precedence; treatment decisions should never rest on a screening score alone.
DLQI is supported by the following peer-reviewed sources: