Psychological disabilities amongst patients with port wine stains

Abstract

In a questionnaire study to assess psychological disabilities in 110 patients with port wine stains, 71 completed questionnaires were analysed. The questionnaire revealed a high level of psychological morbidity resulting from a feeling of stigmatization amongst these patients that was not apparent in casual social intercourse. In contrast, standard psychological screening tests for psychiatric illness, depression or anxiety revealed that these patients had similar or less evidence of morbidity than controls or other patient groups. It would appear that patients with port wine stains suffer a considerable degree of psychological morbidity which they suppress. This may be related to a need to hide their port wine stain.

Emotional Responses to Disfigured Faces: The Influences of Perceived Anonymity, Empathy, and Disgust Sensitivity

“…Indirect evidence is offered by many studies showing that people with facial disfigurement report frequent experiences of negative attitudes (e.g. Clarke, 1999;Harcourt & Rumsey, 2008;Hearst & Middleton, 1997;Jowett & Ryan, 1985;Lanigan & Cotterill, 1989;Newell & Marks, 2000;Rumsey & Harcourt, 2004;Walters, 1997) and physical avoidance (Houston & Bull, 1994;Rumsey, Bull, & Gahagan, 1982).…”

Locus for susceptibility for familial capillary malformation (‘port-wine stain’) maps to 5q

“…In contrast, CMs do not disappear; they darken, and often thicken with age, and cause psychological distress. 5 Although CM is usually sporadic, families in which these lesions segregate in a dominant manner, with incomplete penetrance, have been reported. 6 -9 Further evidence of genetic predisposition has been obtained in demographic studies showing that 7 -22% of CM patients have relatives with a cutaneous vascular stain.…”

Importance of Psychosomatic Approach For Dermatological Diseases

“…Bu yaftalanma nedeniyle de hastalar›n beden alg›lar› bozulur ve görü-nebilecekleri sosyal ortamlardan kaç›nmaya çal›fl›rlar 10 . Yap›lan baflka çal›flmalarda da araflt›rmac›lar görünümleri ortalamadan farkl› kiflilerin bedenlerinin daha fazla fark›nda olduklar›n›, bu farkl›l›¤›n bask›s›yla iliflkilerinin ve kariyerlerinin etkilendi¤ini ileri sürmüfllerdir 24 . Baz› yazarlar da di¤erlerinin deri belirtileri ortaya ç›kan hastalara yönelik olumsuz tutumunu anlamaya çal›flm›fllard›r.…”