Body dysmorphic disorder among patients seeking dermatologic and cosmetic treatments in a tertiary care hospital in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Introduction
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), originally termed “dysmorphophobia”, is a psychiatric condition in which body image concerns become excessive and quite devastating. People with the disorder display a constant preoccupation with an imagined physical defect (ICD-10).

Aim
To evaluate the proportion of body dysmorphic disorder amongst general dermatologic patients and those who seek cosmetic treatments in a tertiary care hospital in Nepal.

Material and methods
This descriptive study duration was 12 months. Proforma was filled up separately and the master chart was created using the latest version of MS Excel; statistical analyses were done using the latest version of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

Results
Twenty five out of 161 patients met the criteria for body dysmorphic disorder. The mean age was 28.02 ±5.89 years. Among 25 patients with BDD, 15 (9.3%) patients had cosmetic problems while 10 (6.2%) patients had other dermatological problems. Most patients had mild (8.32%) and moderate (7.28%) severity in distress, torrent, or pain, similar to the findings for impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. While in the c2 test, the defect rating scale increased among cosmetic groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusions
Many patients seeking cosmetic and dermatological treatments have been asuffering from BDD, and thereby multiple attempts of treatments may not lead to treatment satisfaction. This dissatisfaction causes worsening of the symptoms in BDD patients and may lead to lawsuits and their legalities to the treating dermatologists.