Skin diseases and Self Image
There is a cosmetic aspect about having a disease affecting your skin that may prove to be more damaging to the individual’s self image than the disease itself. Very often we see patients with skin lesions or imperfections, such as warts, moles, excessive freckles or even more obscure conditions, like granuloma annulare, that are not in any sort of danger in terms of health, but don’t feel good about themselves and their body image because of these conditions. And it’s easy for people to feel self conscious about these things.
Of course, just because the skin imperfections aren’t life threatening it doesn’t mean that they aren’t a sign of something else that’s wrong with your body. Many of us have seen or possible even have the tiny brownish spots that show up on the hands known as “liver spots”, that are a sign that your liver is malfunctioning. A particularly large freckle or dark spot on your skin, even if it doesn’t hurt or isn’t even giving you discomfort in any way, may be skin cancer or another form of a more severe skin disease. The condition given above, of granuloma annulare, is another example of what we’re talking about here. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the disease, it is characterized by rash-like red bumps that show up on the limbs, primarily on the arms and legs, in a circle pattern. Despite this disease not having a known cause and being primarily a cosmetic condition, it has been associated with some cases of diabetes and thyroid related diseases. But because this disease affects a very small percentage of the population and, even in those affected it is merely a seasonal condition that tends to disappear with age, treatment if often not recommended.
But even when no physical sequels of a disease are present, there is always the chance of it leaving some emotional scars. This is something that’s thought to affect women more commonly, but many men suffer from self image problems related to skin conditions also. And there are some serious problems that can arise from these self image issues. Psychological care often goes hand in hand with these diseases and because this isn’t always covered by ones insurance, and because there is a certain prejudice against seeing a mental health doctor, prejudice that years of people going to therapy in movies and soap operas still hasn’t stopped, people are sometimes reluctant to seek help.
