Die haut als spiegel der seele: Fakt oder fiktion?

In recent years the scientific viewpoint on the relationship between skin and soul has transformed from a phenomenological and psychosomatic factor to a modern research branch, the psychoneuroimmunology. On the basis of a common "language" brain and peripheral organs exchange information bidirectionally. This is made possible by hitherto incompletely characterized local neuroendocrine systems, among which the extraneuronal cholinergic system, the antidromic response or components of the HPA-axis present in hair follicles play crucial parts. Taking psychosomatically relevant skin disorders as examples, we develop the concept of a neuroendocrine balanced immune-modulation in which skin-brain interaction plays a major role for future research projects.