Body dysmorphic disorder and dermatologists

The aim  of this study was to determine the frequency of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) identified by Polish dermatologists and to evaluate the treatment modalities applied by them.
Methods  A specially designed questionnaire was distributed to 172 dermatologists. A total of 118 doctors responded (68.6%). The dermatologists were asked regarding demographic data, frequency of BDD in their everyday practice and methods of treatment they used in managing BDD patients.
Results  During the whole working period, over the half of dermatologists (64%) had observed at least one BDD patient in their practice. One fifth (20%) of the respondents observed 1 or 2 BDD cases during the past 5 years, 14% observed 3 to 5 such patients, 7% observed 5 to 10 BDD cases, and 5% of the doctors reported seeing more than 10 BDD patients within this period. Almost 18% of dermatologists were currently treating a BDD patient. Our data show that 40.7% of the respondents always ask and 28.8% often ask for a psychiatric opinion. More experienced dermatologists statistically more frequently ( P < 0.05) obtained a psychiatric opinion about their patients. Only a small group of dermatologists (15.3%) use their own pharmacological treatment. If they do so, they first use anxiety-relieving drugs and placebo.
Conclusion  BDD is a quite common disorder; however, not all dermatologists are sufficiently prepared to treat it. There is an urgent need for training of dermatologists on the effective approach to psychodermatoses.