Dermatology and Skin Care Sciences

Psycho-Dermatology

A relatively new subspecialty of psychosomatic medicine is psycho-dermatology. It is the end result of the interplay between the skin and the psyche. While psychiatry concentrates on "internal" nonvisible illnesses, dermatology focuses on "external" visible problems. Ectoderm bridges the gap by uniting the two fields of study at the embryonic stage. Skin and the immunological and neuroendocrine systems have intricate interactions.

Skin responds to both endogenous and external stimuli, taking in and integrating environmental cues as well as letting others know about interior conditions. A disorder in which the interaction of the mind and the skin is present is known as a psych dermatologic disorder. Psychophysiological disorders, primary psychiatric disorders, and secondary psychiatric disorders are the three categories into which psych dermatologic illnesses are divided.

• Psychoneuroimmunology
• Psychophysiological Disorders
• Psychiatric Disorders with Dermatological Symptoms
• Dermatological Disorders with Psychiatric Symptoms