Cutaneous Diseases Precipitated or Perpetuated by Emotional Factors

Connection between skin and brain has always been a fascinating and intricate topic in medicine, especially in dermatology and psychiatric fields. Since skin is the outermost layer that connects us with the outside world and is difficult to hide, it is easy to understand how those who suffer from chronic skin diseases have a lower quality of life and higher rates of depression or anxiety when compared to healthy-skin people. In clinical practice, it is not unusual to see the worsening or new onset of dermatological diseases after a stressful event in patient life that acts in fact as a trigger thus making the skin-brain axis a bidirectional circuit. CRH, ACTH, and cortisol are just some of the substances that regulate the communication between skin and brain that can lead to the release of inflammatory cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, or many other dermatological disorders.