Teenage years can be a stressful period during which many changes occur in the physical and psychological aspects of life. These issues should be borne in mind when consulting a teenager with any form of skin disease. Skin diseases that may affect teenagers are summarised in Table 14.1.

Points to Consider When Consulting a Teenager with a Skin Disease (Table 14.2)

Skin diseases are often visible. This can impact on the psychological well-being of affected individuals, exacerbated by media and peer pressure to have ‘perfect skin’ (e.g. scarring acne, psoriasis, vitiligo or eczema affecting exposed skin) (Figures 14.1–14.3 and 14.7). Psychological stress from domestic or school issues or the skin disease itself may cause further flares (e.g. psoriasis).

Severe chronic skin diseases (e.g. psoriasis or eczema) may require frequent hospital appointments for day treatment, or inpatient therapy. These may disrupt educational and recreational activities.

Skin lesions on exposed skin may be cosmetically unacceptable for patients. Excision of benign lesions needs to be weighed against the cosmetic effect of the resulting scar. Cosmetic camouflage is beneficial for vitiligo or large vascular malformations.

Education is important in disease prevention and treatment compliance. For example, raising awareness of the skin cancer risk of sun beds, photo-protection measures and how to recognise a suspicious skin cancer. Similarly, developing a topical treatment regime practical and acceptable to the individual’s daily routine can improve treatment compliance in chronic skin diseases.

Acne Vulgaris

This is the most common skin disease affecting teenagers. It is associated with significant impact on psychological well-being. A disease of the pilosebaceous unit in the skin, pathogenesis of acne is multi-factorial (Fig 14.4) and includes the following:

Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue