Presented 'with red skin on arms'

[UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername]

I saw a psychiatrist recently. In his follow-up letter to my GP (with a diagnosis of ADHD), he wrote under 'physical presentation' that I was overweight with 'red skin' on my arms.

I'm definitely very overweight. And the backs of my forearms are fairly red, some days more than others, which I just put down to years of weathering? My face and neck are also redder than the rest of me; I have very fair skin and burn easily, and even in winter the redness doesn't go away completely.

I'm not sure why he would have been flagging this to my GP, though? Is there something about it that I'm missing? I meant to ask my GP on the phone when I spoke to him but I forgot (ADHD!). Can anyone here shed any light on it?

Its a bit hazy but can't it point to a medical problem if you have red swollen patches of skin? If you're very overweight you might not notice if it's swollen.

I always think it's a good thing if a HCP notices little things like that.

Or it could just be an observation.

Could he think it was signs of self harm or simply untreated eczema?

I think you might be over-thinking this. It's something he could objectively notice that might be a problem that could be reduced, that's all.

Psychiatrists perform a Mental State Examination
which is done in a set order.
The first thing in the MSE is the physical appearance of the person they’re seeing.
Next is a description of the speech
and so on,
Every psychiatrist report is like is

I'm not questioning the fact that there's a description, that seems reasonable. It's the mention of the reddened arms; I can't see why it's in any way meaningful! I mean, why that and not that my face has some wrinkles, or my hair was messy?!

Why that - because it's unusual? Wrinkles and slihtly messy hair is normal. If your hair was matted and looked like a bird's nest they'd probably have mentioned that, same if you were 30 but look 60 due to neglect or drug use. It's observation and assessment isn't it, so makes sense that anything outside the ordinary or unhealthy gets commented on. 'Weathering' is sun damage so it's unhealthy. If you used sunblock daily you wouldn't be 'weathered'.