ABSTRACT
Psoriasis is a chronic, cosmetically disfiguring and psychosocially disabling dermatological disease which affects 2.6% of the U.S. population (1). Traditionally, outcome measures of various medical treatments have utilized physical assessment of the severity of psoriasis (e.g., assessment of surface area involvement, erythema, thickness, amount of scales) (2). However, more and more healthcare providers have come to realize the psychosocial and occupational impact that psoriasis can have on the patients. For example, 19% of the patients in Ginsburg and Link’s study (3) reported incidents of blatant rejection, most often from a gym, pool, hairdresser, or job. In Koo’s study (1), 51% felt that the worst or second worst thing about psoriasis was appearance-related (mostly unsightly physical appearance or noticeable flakes). A significant proportion of psoriasis inpatients studied by Ramsey and O’Reagan (4) reported interference with sexual relationships. The physical, social, and psychological aspects all affect a person’s quality of life. Given that the usual goal of dermatological care is to improve a
patient’s quality of life rather than survival, the adequacy of physical outcome measures has been questioned in recent years, with increasing awareness of the importance of quality-of-life measures.
