Dermatitis Artefacta: A Retrospective Descriptive Study on 46 Patients

Overview

Journal Dermatol Pract Concept

Specialty Dermatology

Date 2024 May 29

PMID 38810059

Authors

Eugenia Veronica Di Brizzi

Gianluca Ficca

Vincenzo Piccolo

Camila Scharf

Giulia Briatico

Sebastiano Pellerone

Giuseppe Argenziano

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Self-induced dermatoses are self-inflicted skin lesions, whose occurrence patient denies responsibility for.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate all the clinical records of dermatitis artefacta (DA) in order to put special focus on: a) epidemiological aspects; b) location, shape and additional features of the lesions; c) availability of psychiatric details in the records.

Methods: A retrospective observational descriptive study on 46 patients affected by dermatitis artefacta was conducted from January 2015 to March 2021. The only inclusion criterion was clinical or histological diagnosis of DA in patients for which we had clinical images.

Results: The most frequent type of lesions were erosions/excoriations and ulcers (14/46, 30.4% and 13/46, 28.3% respectively) followed by ecchymoses (9/46, 19.5%), vasculitis-like lesions (5/46, 10.9%), crusted plaques (3/46, 6.5%), scales (1/46, 2.2%) and erythema (1/46, 2.2%). Thirty-three percent of the medical records generically referred to the presence of psychiatric disorder, but none of them included a specific psychiatric diagnosis.

Conclusions: In our study the main dermatologic lesions observed in DA were represented by excoriations and ulcers and that the shape and location of the lesions are essential for a correct diagnosis.

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