[Alternative medicine therapy in dermatology: dimensions, chances and approaches to an integrative understanding]

Skin diseases may bring considerable psychosocial stress for the affected patients. The therapist must strive to relieve the symptoms and also to provide long-lasting prevention of recurrences, especially in chronic skin diseases. Clinical experience has shown complementary procedures, especially the classical naturopathy, to be promising supplements to conventinal therapy. Proof of efficacy in dermatological applications has been found in controlled studies for some of these procedures. By far the majority of these applications in dermatology still require controlled investigation. The required efficacy studies should orient to internationally accepted criteria for clinical studies and record not only clinical efficacy but also quality of life factors and cost of treatment in a therapy comparison. Psychosomatic relationships play a particular role in dermatological treatment. In addition to their importance as occasional originators or potentiaters of skin disease, emotional factors are crucial in the secondary stress associated with the disease due to the numerous visible effects on the skin. An integrative dermatological therapy makes the attempt both to determine and to treat the co-eliciting emotional factors and to support the patient's mode of coping with the disease. The doctor-patient relationship is especially important here. In summary, conventional, complementary and psychosomatic procedures can be mutually beneficial in dermatological therapy.