Dermatology
More than skin deep — stories from dermatologists
Dermatology has one of the lowest burnout rates among specialties, though practitioners report increasing frustration with insurance barriers and the gap between medical and cosmetic practice demands, per AAD surveys.
Dermatology might seem an unlikely specialty for extraordinary medical experiences, yet the skin — the body's largest organ and its interface with the external world — has long been recognized as a canvas on which psychological and spiritual states can manifest with startling visibility. Psychodermatology, a recognized subspecialty at the intersection of psychiatry and dermatology, has documented cases of stigmata-like lesions, dermographism triggered by hypnotic suggestion, and spontaneous resolution of chronic skin conditions following psychological or spiritual interventions. The skin, it turns out, is one of the most responsive organs to states of mind that medicine is only beginning to understand.
Dermatologists encounter the extraordinary most frequently in the context of unexplained remissions and psychosomatic manifestation. Chronic conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and even some skin cancers have been documented to resolve spontaneously in temporal association with significant emotional or spiritual events. A 2017 review in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology acknowledged the psychoneuroimmunological pathways through which psychological states can influence skin disease, while noting that the magnitude of some clinical responses exceeds what these pathways alone can explain. Dermatologists who practice long enough accumulate a private collection of cases where a patient's skin transformed in ways that no topical, systemic, or phototherapy could have produced.
Dr. Kolbaba's work does not focus heavily on dermatology, but the specialty's experiences connect to his broader thesis: that physicians across all disciplines encounter phenomena that resist conventional explanation, and that the professional culture of medicine discourages discussing them. Dermatologists, whose specialty is sometimes perceived as less 'serious' than acute care fields, may feel especially reluctant to share stories that could further marginalize their professional standing. Yet the skin's unique position as a visible, measurable interface between internal states and external manifestation makes dermatological anomalies particularly well-documented and difficult to dismiss.
What Dermatology Physicians Report
Dermatologists have documented cases of chronic, treatment-refractory skin conditions — severe psoriasis, recalcitrant eczema, even biopsy-confirmed skin cancers — that resolved completely in temporal association with significant psychological or spiritual events, at a speed and magnitude that no known dermatological therapy can produce. The skin's unique position as a visible, measurable interface between internal states and external manifestation makes these remissions particularly well-documented and difficult to dismiss.
Extraordinary Phenomena in Dermatology
Psychogenic Skin Manifestations
Skin lesions — blisters, rashes, bleeding, raised welts — that appear in direct response to psychological states, hypnotic suggestion, or emotional trauma, without any identifiable dermatological cause. Dermatologists document these cases with biopsy, photography, and clinical timeline to rule out factitious disorder.
Spontaneous Dermatological Remission
Chronic skin conditions — severe psoriasis, recalcitrant eczema, non-melanoma skin cancers — that resolve completely without treatment or with treatment that had previously been ineffective. Dermatologists note that these remissions sometimes correlate temporally with significant life events, psychological shifts, or reported spiritual experiences.
Hypnotic Dermographism
Specific skin reactions — including raised welts forming recognizable patterns or words — produced under hypnotic suggestion in controlled clinical settings. While dermographism itself is a known condition, the ability to direct its manifestation through psychological means demonstrates a mind-skin connection that dermatology has not fully explained.
Wound Healing Anomalies
Surgical or traumatic wounds that heal at rates dramatically exceeding normal tissue repair timelines, sometimes producing cosmetic outcomes that surprise even experienced dermatologic surgeons. A subset of these cases correlate with the patient's reported psychological state or healing practices that fall outside conventional wound care.
The Kind of Case Dermatology Physicians Report
Composite archetype based on reported patterns — not a specific case
The patient with multiple biopsy-confirmed basal cell carcinomas who, after beginning an intensive mindfulness practice, presents at follow-up with no clinical or histological evidence of any remaining lesions. The dermatologist, reviewing sequential photographs and biopsy reports, documents a remission timeline that is inconsistent with any known biological mechanism for basal cell carcinoma resolution.
Read Real Cases in the Book →Physician Burnout by Specialty
Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)
Reader Ratings Distribution
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Why Dermatology Physicians Encounter the Extraordinary
The skin is the body's most visible organ, which means that dermatological anomalies are uniquely documentable — they can be photographed, biopsied, measured, and tracked over time in ways that internal phenomena cannot. When a dermatologist witnesses an extraordinary remission or a psychogenic manifestation, the evidence is literally on the surface, available for inspection. This makes dermatological cases a powerful complement to the internal-medicine and cardiology accounts in Kolbaba's book.
Dermatologists reading Physicians' Untold Stories often connect the book's themes to their own experience of the mind-skin axis — the growing recognition that the skin responds to states of consciousness in ways that conventional dermatology is only beginning to map.
Questions About Dermatology and the Unexplained
Can psychological or spiritual states really cause visible skin changes?
How does psychodermatology explain spontaneous remission of skin disease?
What is the evidence for mind-body connection in skin conditions?
Why do some chronic skin conditions suddenly resolve after emotional breakthroughs?
Read the Stories That Changed Everything
Over 200 physicians interviewed. 26 stories that will challenge what you believe about life, death, and everything in between.
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Every medical specialty has its own encounters with the extraordinary. Explore stories from other fields.
