Are skin diseases systemic ones?: I

摘要

Within the first 14 years of the twenty-first century, psoriasis has been transformed from a cutaneous entity into one with significant systemic manifestations. The association of psoriasis with the metabolic syndrome, as well as other cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disease, had suggested similarities between the inflammatory processes in the skin and other internal organs and tissues. Such a growing body of evidence poses several questions: Is the skin a screen on which the changes in the internal homeostasis are projected? Are skin diseases only superficial ones and only the integument is involved? Are the skin and the internal organs involved in a common pathophysiologic process that is only visible at the skin surface? Are atopic dermatitis, other dermatitides, and acne simply skin disease or can they be regarded as systemic inflammatory disorders with skin manifestations? What stands for the autoimmune connective tissue and blistering disease?