The importance of skin disease as assessed by "willingness-to-pay".
BACKGROUND
To achieve optimal resource allocation in health care, it is necessary to value competing resource uses according to the benefit derived from those uses. Skin disease makes as great an impact as other serious medical conditions when assessed by effects on health-related quality of life.


OBJECTIVE
To confirm the high impact of skin disease by comparing patients' willingness to pay (WTP) to be cured or relieved from symptoms of skin and nonskin conditions.


METHODS
We searched the published literature on WTP to compare the impact of dermatologic conditions with the impact of other medical conditions. A total of 46 articles were identified of which 10 included information on willingness to pay for cure reported on a monthly basis.


RESULTS
WTP for skin diseases fell in the range of 125-260 dollars/month and was comparable or higher than all but one of the other identified conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
Willingness to pay for relief from skin diseases is comparable to that for relief of other serious medical conditions. Skin diseases are associated with a significant adverse impact on patients' lives.
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics*; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*