Cutaneous Factitious Disorder (CFD) is rare but often chronic and recurrent illness that impairs patients' quality of life. Few are known about its underlying mechanism which often involves emotional factors such as anxiety and depression.

This study aimed to compare depression, anxiety and quality of life scores in patients diagnosed as CFD and in control patients with chronic dermatological diseases.

It's a case-control study held in dermatology and psychiatry departments of the university hospital Farhat Hached (Sousse, Tunisia). Twenty-five female patients diagnosed as CFD according to DSM-IV criteria were prospectively recruited. The control group consisted of twenty-five female patients with chronic dermatological condition. They were age and disease duration matched. Assessment was based on family and personal history, HAD-S anxiety and depression scores and SF-36 quality of life measures. Statistical comparisons were performed with Khi 2, Student and Fisher tests.

CFD patients had a mean age of 31 ± 8.62 years. They were more often celibates (p < 10–4) and had lower educational level (p=0.21) than controls. They also had more long family medical history (p=0.49), more personal psychiatric antecedents (p=0.29) and more previous suicide attempts (p = 0.10).

The level of depression and anxiety was the same between CFD patients' group and controls. However, quality of life measures were lower in CFD group (p<10–4).

In spite of a same level of depression and anxiety in the two groups, patients with CFD had a more impaired quality of life than those with other chronic dermatological condition.