A 26-year-old married female presented with a complaint of recurrent multiple ulcerative lesions on her body. After complete history and physical examination, a diagnosis of dermatitis artefacta was made. Dermatitis artefacta remains undiagnosed for quite some time because of its atypical skin changes, diverse methods used for producing skin lesions, lack of awareness about the disorder on the ...

Dermatitis artefacta is a rarely diagnosed disorder that is often a source of perplexity and anxiety for dermatologists because they know less about the cause of this self-inflicted condition than the patients themselves. It differs from other skin disorders in that diagnosis is made by exclusion rather than on the basis of histologic and biochemical findings and therefore involves a considerab...

Dermatologists are often faced with psychological and psychiatric problems, including patients with self-inflicted dermatoses [Cotterill and Millard, 1998]. While in some patients the diagnosis of dermatitis artefacta is obvious, in other instances the patient may evade a correct diagnosis, often successfully deceiving many doctors for many years. In short, well-intentioned doctors find it diff...

Case 1: This 16-year-old woman was referred for psychiatric management of her dermatitis artefacta that presented as superficial linear abrasions on her thighs and arms. During psychotherapy, the patient disclosed that her father had started sexually molesting her when she was about 8 years old. By age 10 years her father was having sexual intercourse with her. Initially, the patient confused h...