"...people saying they can't go on, and feel constantly depressed because of what feels like endless misery."
I'm not surprised to hear that so many people with skin problems are depressed, since their condition, pain and itchyness (you name it) is constantly on their mind, just like you said -on a day-to-day basis.
I suffer from different kinds of allergies (not all of them are diagnosed though, which makes living with them even harder) and they usually cause me unwelcome skin reactions. My skin is also atopic, so I'm very dry all around the year. Add some eczemas there and I'm itching all the time. I don't even mind so much about the looks of it (though my skin doesn't look as bad as you described yours) but the constant unpleasant feeling could make me crazy any day if I gave it the power!

So I really feel you, this sucks. Take care.

P.s. Your writing was very good -I love the self-irony.