VIDEO: Don’t overlook psychosocial concerns of vitiligo patients

ORLANDO – There are ways to assess the psychosocial needs of your patients with vitiligo, even if you don’t believe you have the necessary skills to do a complete mental health work-up, according to Seemal R. Desai, MD.

In an interview recorded at this year’s annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. Desai, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Texas, Dallas, shares his ideas for how to have casual conversations with patients that can help reveal important clues to psychosocial stress patients with this serious medical skin condition might be facing.

“There are subtle clues to look for to know that these patients are uncomfortable with others seeing their skin,” says Dr. Desai.

In the video interview, he also covers taking a multidisciplinary approach to caring for these patients, what treatments are available to those who are suffering psychosocial stress after having failed several interventions, and how patients from many Asian and African counties are especially at risk for ostracization.

“It’s important to let your patients know that you understand this is really affecting them psychosocially, and that you care,” says Dr. Desai.

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