Siddhartha Paul1, Nandita Paul 2
1. Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, North East Medical College, Sylhet.
2. Registrar, Department of Dermatology and Venerology, North East Medical College, Sylhet.
Abstract
Skin diseases account for about 15% of a general practitioners’ workload. Acne, Scabies, Eczema, Psoriasis, Warts and Skin tumors are amongst the commonest of all human skin diseases. Psoriasis is a common chronic, recurrent, inflammatory disease of the skin. It is found in about 1-3% of population. One of the worst parts of having psoriasis and acne is that others may avoid the patient with the thought that these are contagious or may be a sign of bad hygiene. Such avoidance can be painful and makes it difficult to maintain a healthy self-image. This stress leads to higher risk of developing emotional problems such as depression and thoughts of suicide. This study was conducted on 100 patients in the Department of psychiatry in collaboration with the Department of Dermatology and Venerology, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College & Hospital, Sylhet from July 2005 to June 2006. x2 test was done to see the difference and P value<0.05 was taken as significant. According this study among the psoriasis patients 19 (38%) patients were suffering from depression and in Acne patients 8 (16%) patients were suffering from depression. This result was statistically significant (P value <0.05). The mean age of depressed psoriasis patients and acne patients were 31.32±4.91 and 20±3.4 respectively.
Key ward: Acne, Psoriasis, Depression