Introduction
Dermatoogy conditions are one of the most common human diseases, which affect 30%- 70% of people regardless with individual cultures and ages The International Classification of Diseases lists over 1,000 dermatologic or skin-related diseases in 10 categories. Internationally, skin diseases are the fourth leading cause of non-fatal diseases. Despite this abundance, skin diseases continue to receive less attention in national and global health debates (1).
Patients with dermatologic problems often experience emotional problems, such a way that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among dermatologic patients was reported between 30% and 60% (2-4). Chronic skin diseases are considered as long-standing diseases that has had an increasing rate in recent years especially in developed countries. But the mortality rate of dermatology diseases has been decreased because of presenting new medication and better managent the disease by general physicians and dermatologists. In this regard, advances in the treatment of chronic skin diseases have improved the patients’ quality of life(5) .
Several skin diseases are associated with pain and discomfort, physical disabilities and psychological disorders (6, 7). In some conditions, complications of skin diseases usually remain permanently or temporarily. Therefore, these complications can affect the patients’ professional, psychological and physical well-being (8). On the other hand, there is some evidence that suggests the quality of life in patients with dermatological is equal to or worse than the quality of life in patients with cancer or heart diseases (9).
Tendency to use folklore, complementary and integrative medicine is prominent among the Iranian population, especially in patients (10-12). In this regard, many people with chronic disorders, such as several dermatological conditions, have resorted to the use of integrative and complementary medicine, natural and herbal remedies, acupressure, acupuncture, exercise, psychological and nutritional approaches to control the symptoms of the diseases (13-15).
To the best of our knowledge, despite the high number of patients with dermatologic conditions who referred to TPM clinics, the epidemiological studies were not conducted in these patients in Iranian population. In this survey, we decided to assess the epidemiological charastristics in patients with any dermatological conditions referring to TPM clinic affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Southern Iran, during 2018.