Concerns about aging skin and eating disorders

Abstract

Concern about aging of the appearance, which usually presents in the clinical setting as concerns about aging skin, can be a associated with eating disorders for several reasons: (a) Concerns about an aging appearance may lead individuals to diet and exercise excessively in an attempt to regain a youthful appearance and “control” over their lives. Excessive dieting is a key precipitating factor in the onset of eating disorders. (b) Individuals with limited emotional coping skills who are predisposed to developing eating disorders can become excessively preoccupied by their body image and minimal or even imagined cutaneous signs of aging, often starting at a young age. Such patients may experience exacerbations of their eating disorder, as their concerns about growing old heighten while they are attempting to retreat to the security of childhood. (c) Some patients with eating disorders also have comorbid body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Concerns about aging skin can be a feature of BDD in these patients.