THE NEURO-IMMUNO-CUTANEOUS-ENDOCRINE NETWORK - RELATIONSHIP OF MIND AND SKIN

Skin does more than present one's ''face'' to the world; it plays a vi tal role in the maintenance of physical and mental health. As our most ancient interface, skin retains the ability to respond to both endoge nous and exogenous stimuli, sensing and integrating environmental cues while transmitting intrinsic conditions to the outside world. As such , it has long been a target for the application of both medical and no nmedical therapies of healthy and diseased states. Our understanding o f how the skin and topical therapies affect health is in its infancy. Conversely, we know little of how our internal systems affect our skin . By exploring an elaborate web of neuro-immuno-cutaneous-endocrine (N ICE) phenomena, we seek to shed light on the generally acknowledged, b ut: inadequately defined, relationship between mental and physical hea lth. We use skin as our window, noting some of the biological mediator s linking nervous, immune, cutaneous, and endocrine functions. It is l ikely that these mediators are important in homeostasis, and that they affect several dermatologic and psychiatric conditions.