On the occasion of National Atopic Dermatitis Day, celebrated every November 27, the Association of People Affected by Atopic Dermatitis (AADA), together with AbbVie and the Pielsana Foundation, has launched “I wish I could”, an initiative aimed at showing the reality experienced by people with severe atopic dermatitis. The campaign, created by the agency Piel Creative Studio – a kind of significant nod given the theme – focuses on the physical and emotional impact of a disease that, despite severely affecting some 30,000 people in Spain, continues to be widely underestimated.
The action is articulated through three hyperrealistic works created by the artist Manuela Benaim, which faithfully reproduce the skin of three real patients with severe atopic dermatitis.
The pieces have been exhibited in three emblematic points in the center of Madrid: the Prado Museum, the Retiro Park and the Puerta de Toledo, with the purpose of facilitating a sensory approach to the disease. Each work incorporates a QR code that links to the first-person testimony of the patients who inspire them, allowing us to understand the daily impact of persistent itching, pain and psychological burden.
The story of those who live with this condition is reflected in the statements of the protagonists themselves. Marta Gutiérrez, participant in the campaign, explains: “Severe atopic dermatitis is a disease that is very trivialized, no one knows what it can really affect. It involves physical discomfort but also psychological stress. You feel trapped in your own skin, that’s why sometimes we wish we could take our skin off.”
From the AADA, its President, África Luca de Tena, reinforces this perspective by stating that “With ‘I wish I could’ we want to convey the true reality of living with severe atopic dermatitis. The exhaustion, frustration, pain and above all the devastating impact of living with such intense itching 24 hours a day.”
The initiative also highlights the need to differentiate between mild and severe forms of the disease. Although atopic dermatitis affects around one million people in Spain in its milder variants, this high prevalence contributes to minimizing the severity of severe cases. With this campaign, the AADA seeks to place the disease in the public debate as “the unbearable skin disease”a name that aims to restore proportion to its real impact and reduce its social trivialization.
“I wish I could” is integrated into the continued work of the AADA to raise the visibility of affected people, promote a more precise knowledge of the disease and promote its institutional recognition. The three works exhibited in Madrid function, therefore, as an artistic and informative intervention, designed to transfer an intimate experience to a collective level.
