Social Appearance Anxiety in Patients with Contact Dermatitis

INTRODUCTION: Contact dermatitis is a dermatological disease that can cause skin lesions on visible and invisible parts of the body. Lesions in the visible parts of the body can negatively affect the body perception of people and cause them to worry about their appearance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the social appearance anxiety of individuals with contact dermatitis lesions on the visible parts of their bodies using the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale and to compare them with healthy controls.
METHODS: A total of 129 patients aged between 18-65 years with a diagnosis of contact dermatitis and 89 healthy controls were included in the study. Patients and healthy controls were asked to fill in Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) scales, and dermatological quality of life and visual analog scales were applied to the patient group.
RESULTS: In terms of the mean Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) scores, the mean SSI score in the patient group was 57.11, while the mean SSI score in the control group was 19.27. Thus, the mean SDSS score of the patient group was found to be considerably higher than the control group (p<0.01). A significant positive correlation was found between SSQ score and VAS score (r=0.282, p<0.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Lesions appearing in visible places in contact dermatitis patients cause anxiety in individuals due to their appearance. This situation revealed that those with contact dermatitis lesions should receive psychiatric treatment in addition to dermatological treatments.