Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2023 Jan 26;15(1):e34244.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.34244. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Dermatitis Artefacta: A Challenging Case Report

Affiliations
Case Reports

Dermatitis Artefacta: A Challenging Case Report

Lena Basfar et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

We report a 31-year-old female presented with a history of recurrent skin and oral lesions for 10 years. She brought a histopathology report confirming the diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris (PV), which was found to be faked with no patient information and lacked letterhead. Skin and oral examination only reveal multiple linear upper lip erosions. We believed the patient had a preliminary diagnosis of PV, and we asked the patient to continue her medications. Based on the conflicting history and occurrence of contradictory issues, a diagnosis of dermatitis artefacta was made. The patient improved after four sessions of dialectical therapy.

Keywords: dermatitis artefacta; excoriations; factitious disorder; rare; self-inflicted injury.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Histopathological report showing pemphigus vulgaris
Figure 2
Figure 2. Multiple regularly arranged linear erosions over the upper lip with few crusted erosions on the lower lip

References

    1. National Library of Medicine: Dermatitis artefacta. [ Mar; 2022 ]. 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430936/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430936/
    1. Dermatitis artefacta. Clinical features and approaches to treatment. Koblenzer CS. Am J Clin Dermatol. 2000;1:47–55. - PubMed
    1. Factitious disease in the field of dermatology. Gieler U. Psychother Psychosom. 1994;62:48–55. - PubMed
    1. Self-induced skin lesions: a review of dermatitis artefacta. Gattu S, Rashid RM, Khachemoune A. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20099617/ Cutis. 2009;84:247–251. - PubMed
    1. A cry for help, do not omit the signs. Dermatitis artefacta--psychiatric problems in dermatological diseases (a review of 5 cases) Wojewoda K, Brenner J, Kąkol M, et al. Med Sci Monit. 2012;18:0–9. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types