Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Dermatol. May 2, 2015; 4(2): 114-119
Published online May 2, 2015. doi: 10.5314/wjd.v4.i2.114
Identifying and managing naevus dysmorphia in clinical practice
Andrew G Affleck, Emma Wray, Zoë Chouliara
Andrew G Affleck, Dermatology Department, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, United Kingdom
Emma Wray, ST1 in General Medicine, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, United Kingdom
Zoë Chouliara, Person Centred Care, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5LG, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Affleck AG and Wray E designed the report; Affleck AG and Wray E collected the patient’s clinical data; Affleck AG and Chouliara Z drafted then finalized the report and wrote the paper.
Ethics approval: N/A.
Informed consent: Signed consent forms from three patients for the use of images are available and are included with this submission.
Conflict-of-interest: No conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Andrew G Affleck, Consultant Dermatologist, Dermatology Department, Ninewells Hospital, Level 8, Dundee DD1 9SY, United Kingdom. andrew.affleck@nhs.net
Telephone: +44-1382-660111-33004 Fax: +44-1382-633916
Received: September 29, 2014
Peer-review started: September 29, 2014
First decision: October 28, 2015
Revised: January 25, 2015
Accepted: April 1, 2015
Article in press: April 7, 2015
Published online: May 2, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Naevus dysmorphia is a form of body image dissatisfaction. A preoccupation with a simple melanocytic naevus that causes significant distress to the individual and impacts on their wellbeing are central features. Symptoms are often consistent with body dysmorphic disorder but the impact can be less severe. Patients tend to present to dermatology or cosmetic surgery requesting removal of a mole. An extended history is needed to fully assess the perceived “problem”. Excision alone will not necessarily address the underlying psychological issues. Liaison with clinical/health psychology and/or psychiatry can be desirable in individual cases.