stress can take a toll on your skin
How does stress affect my skin?
Dermatologists are often asked the seemingly innocent question "Is this caused by stress?" For my patients with skin cancer, the answer is a simple no. For my patients with a host of other conditions, very often it is yes -- sort of.
Doctors typically have a much broader definition of stress than our patients. Anything that puts a physiologically taxing load on our body is a stressor. Surgery, pregnancy, cancer treatments, adverse medication reactions, infections, anemia, a major illness, and of course emotional turbulence, both joyous (your wedding) and sad (death of a loved one) are all stressors.
Psoriasis, rosacea, and acne are common conditions that can be initiated or exacerbated by stress. When I was a resident, we were often consulted at the hospital for patients coming out of surgery that erupted in psoriasis a few days later. It was the first time in their lives they had an outbreak. It had always been there genetically, it just needed a "push" from the environment to emerge.
Hair loss and brittle nails are another common consequence. There are MANY conditions that cause hair loss and a dermatologist should never just dismiss it as "stress" until a complete work-up is done to rule out other possible treatable conditions. With that said, one of the most common forms of hair loss is a condition termed telogen effluvium. It is essentially stress on our body converting hair from its "growth" phase (anagen) to the "resting/shedding" stage (telogen). The result can be an extensive sudden loss of hair.
A frequent condition of my more seasoned patients is shingles (Herpes Zoster). Caused by reactivation of the chicken pox virus, it may be latent in nerve cells for years. Very often, a recent hospitalization or emotional life event coincides with the breakout.
Have you ever broken out in hives? Urticaria, commonly known as hives, is a skin condition almost everyone at some point has had in their lives. Very often there is a culprit: a food we ate, a medication we took, or exposure to a chemical. There are many people, however, that get emotionally induced urticaria. They experience some peaking emotion and like clockwork they break out in red welts all over their body.
Everyone has stress in his or her life. Understanding the role it may play in the course and management of your skin condition is a helpful conversation you should have with your dermatologist.
John Coppola is a board-certified dermatologist at Pinnacle Dermatology with offices in Ormond Beach and Port Orange. For more information on this physician or to send topics for future medical columns, e-mail the Volusia County Medical Society at docs420@aol.com.
Article written and supplied by John C Coppola, D.O at Pinnacle Dermatology
Last Reviewed: 5 May 2011
Next Review Date: 17 February 2013
