Self-induced dermatosis: a diagnostic problem at the intersection of two specialties

Abstract

Self-induced dermatoses is a group of artificial skin injuries and its appendages caused by self-injuring by the patient in order to get rid of negative emotions and painful sensations or to simulate a well-known dermatitis because of the pathological desire to be hospitalized to meet emotional or financial needs.

A significant similarity of clinical manifestations of self-induced dermatoses and oorganic dermatoses (vasculitis, cystic medicine, gangrenous pyoderma, drug reactions, etc.), the inefficiency of dermatological treatment with the sudden appearance of new lesions, as well as the deliberate concealment by the patient the real causes of skin lesions and giving false anamnesis lead to difficulties in diagnosis of self-induced dermatoses. The article presents current data on the main diagnostic criteria and effective methods of treatment of this disease based on several foreign and russian publications; own clinical cases’ descriptions are also provided.

Self-induced dermatoses must be considered as a possible differential diagnosis in cases when no well-known dermatoses can explain the clinical picture and anamnesis does not match it; new destructive lesions appear spontaneously, despite the ongoing treatment.

Keywords

self-induced dermatoses / pathomimia / artificial dermatitis / diagnosis / treatment

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