Quality of life measurement in dermatology consultation: impact on patient reported outcomes

It is now recognized that therapy should not only seek to cure disease, but also to affect outcomes that matter to the patients the most; those related to their functioning in their everyday life and their overall quality of life. In those situations where elimination of disease/complete cure is not possible for example in chronic conditions, limiting the complications from the illness, so that patients can still maintain a comfortable and satisfying life, becomes the goal of treatment. This coupled with the growing patient rights movement and the need for patients to be a part of treatment decision-making process means that patient's health-related quality of life is no longer just an important consequence of health-care, but it is increasingly regarded as an explicit ultimate goal.