May 18, 2019
What if the skin were the mirror of the soul? Science, in part, proves and validates it. Psycho-dermatology was born at the University Hospital of Brest eighteen years ago, and has since come a long way, successfully combining two disciplines to curb the problem: skin treatment and psychological care. Because, as Professor Laurent Misery, founder of this discipline, reminds us, the brain and the skin are closely linked. Trauma must therefore be treated together.
It is clear that the skin, “this skin we inhabit”, to paraphrase the film director Pedro Almodóvar, plays a complex role. More than a barrier, it is our interface with the outside world, a border with threats or aggressions. It is at the same time a shelter, a boundary, a multifunctional interface, capable of regulating our internal temperature, synthesizing vitamin D… or simply giving us touch, the first of our senses to develop and the last to die out. This envelope contains us and designates us, so strong and so fragile at the same time. Unfolded, it would weigh between three and five kilos and would be about two square meters. What then is our beloved personality?
