A case report of development of dysmorphophobia in a patient suffering from long-term discoid lupus erythematosus localized on face

Abstract

The external appearance of a person is, first of all, an objective set of his mental and bodily organization. It affects the perception of a person by others, and also determines the characteristics of the psychology of the individual. As a physical component, appearance is a system of elements of a person's body organization, which are anatomical and anthropological structures. Any changes or inconsistencies with the generally accepted "patterns of appearance" in these structures, especially in the anatomical ones, especially leading to a permanent change in the face, body of a person, can lead to a psychological disorder, up to the formation of persistent mental disorders. The feeling of one's own inferiority, is reflected in the mood, worldview of the patient, relationships with others, and causes an obsessive desire to improve one's appearance. In psychiatry, such mental disorder is called dysmorphophobia. In dermatovenereology, there is a significant number of dermatoses that can cause this disorder. The article presents a case report of a young woman with severe facial skin defects, suffering from lupus erythematosus for a long time and developed dysmorphophobia. The difficulties of diagnosis, clinical picture and treatment of this disorder, as well as the features of counseling such patients by a dermatologist are described.

Keywords

• dysmorphophobia
• autodestructive dermatoses
• discoid lupus erythematosus
• clinical case