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Dermatillomania is the term to describe a skin-picking disorder. It affects you in a way that you form an involuntary habit of scratching or picking your skin. It can get to an extent that may cause severe injury and even lead you to disfigure yourself.
This disorder falls under the umbrella of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Another name for the disorder is excoriation disorder. While skin picking might not sound as grave as other disorders, it can gradually transform into a serious matter. It affects your mental health and causes damage to your self-esteem and appearance.
It can start in the teenage or pre-teenage years. Picking can happen over a minor difference in skin texture, such as a scab or pimple, and turn them into open wounds. In some cases, you might also find yourself fretting over healthy skin and scarring it. It can often turn into minor lesions to even open wounds. It is a chronic disorder and might even have a recurring cycle. Furthermore, it becomes more significant when you reach for tools such as needles or tweezers instead of using your fingernail.
Excoriation disorder can gravely affect your well-being. So if you find yourself fretting over skin picking more than usual, you must seek help.
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About Excoriation Therapy
Therapists / Counselors for Excoriation Therapy
FAQs
Mental Health Care for Skin Picking Disorder
Major Causes
Common Signs
Risk Factors
How is it Diagnosed?
How to Deal With Your Symptoms
Related Conditions
Get Treatment From a Licensed Therapist Who’s Right For You
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Dermatillomania is the term to describe a skin-picking disorder. It affects you in a way that you form an involuntary habit of scratching or picking your skin. It can get to an extent that may cause severe injury and even lead you to disfigure yourself.
This disorder falls under the umbrella of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Another name for the disorder is excoriation disorder. While skin picking might not sound as grave as other disorders, it can gradually transform into a serious matter. It affects your mental health and causes damage to your self-esteem and appearance.
It can start in the teenage or pre-teenage years. Picking can happen over a minor difference in skin texture, such as a scab or pimple, and turn them into open wounds. In some cases, you might also find yourself fretting over healthy skin and scarring it. It can often turn into minor lesions to even open wounds. It is a chronic disorder and might even have a recurring cycle. Furthermore, it becomes more significant when you reach for tools such as needles or tweezers instead of using your fingernail.
Excoriation disorder can gravely affect your well-being. So if you find yourself fretting over skin picking more than usual, you must seek help.
FAQs
It is not a common condition. It is estimated to affect about 1-4 percent of the general population.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) refers to a specific condition and is an umbrella term as well. But dermatillomania is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder with minor differences. Skin-picking has a motivating factor. The person feels a sense of accomplishment or a rewarding feeling. Such factors don't drive OCD. It also doesn't include any form of self-harm.
Excoriation disorder is more likely to start during puberty. People with existing skin conditions, such as acne, comedones, or eczema, have a higher chance of developing the disorder. While prior studies might suggest that it affects a more significant number of women, there is no data to prove it. This disorder can affect anyone, irrespective of their gender.
This is quite rare, but some people with this condition may also eat the scabs they pick. This is known as autocannibalism.
Self-harm is a deliberate and planned action, which can be closely associated with a borderline personality disorder, whereas this condition is subconscious and closely linked to OCD. So, even though compulsive skin-picking is harmful and can be associated with some harmful co-occurring problems, it is different from self-harm.
Mental Health Care for Skin Picking Disorder
Being a compulsive disorder, this condition may cause an involuntary reaction where you don't even pay attention while picking your skin. On the other hand, it is possible that you are aware of your action but cannot seem to stop on your own.
Sometimes you might unconsciously search for any irregularity in your skin. It can be a pimple, a tiny bump, or a dry patch. The sense of abnormality triggers you to get rid of it. But, getting focused on it leads to even harming your healthy skin. You might even reopen your past wounds, which could be unpleasant. A wound can turn septic and need surgical treatment in more severe cases, and there might also be a chance of affecting your immune system.
Scarring from skin picking can affect your appearance, which in turn might make you feel embarrassed and lower your self-esteem. These reasons can make room for extra stress and anxiety disorders.
Treatment through cognitive behavioural therapy is the most effective way a therapist can help you. They will first listen and understand your issue, then offer habit reversal training. Here you can learn to identify your triggers and become more aware. You can even learn how to replace skin picking with a different habit that is harmless.
Major Causes
Dermatillomania doesn't have a certain cause. But, various factors affect the development of this disorder. These include:
- Genetic factors: There might be a possibility that you inherited this disorder from your family tree.
- Stress: Stress or anxiety might be one of the factors that act as a catalyst when it comes to skin-picking. It can also be affected by other mental disorders and even act as a trauma response or a coping mechanism.
- Boredom: The lack of attention to a task or the tendency to keep your hand occupied can also result in skin picking.
- Skincare concerns: Obsessing over skin conditions such as acne and eczema can trigger this condition.
- Self-appearance: The compulsive response to fix any blemish or irregularity can also be a reason.
Common Signs
Common symptoms are not easy to miss. You have to pay attention and note how long the symptoms have persisted. Some common signs are listed below.
- Compulsive skin-picking.
- Skin tearing and cuts that lead to bleeding.
- Picking over freckles, scabs, or moles to 'erase' or 'smoothen' them.
- Worsening the skin condition under stress.
Skin-picking can also look different. It doesn't always have to be a scratching action. Different types of excoriation might be:
- Digging your nails into your skin.
- Tearing your cuticles with your nails or a tool.
- Excessively trying to pop a pimple.
- Squeezing skin and skin folds.
- Rubbing skin to the extent that it turns red or forms blisters.
- Opening up old wounds by scratching a healing scar.
Risk Factors
Untreated, this disorder can seriously impact your physical and mental health.
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Physical harm — This includes:
- Scalp: You might involuntarily keep picking at your scalp, and even pulling out hair in that action.
- Face: The most affected area is the face when it comes to skin picking.
- Arms and legs: There is a significant chance of scratching the skin on the arms and legs. It can be done voluntarily or involuntarily.
- Hands: After the face, hands are the most accessible to pick. This could be due to the constant presence of hangnails or even dry cuticles.
- Skin infection: Constant cuts and wounds are highly likely to get infected. In some severe cases, the condition even causes a threat to the immune system of your body
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Mental harm — This includes:
- Low self-esteem: Consistent scarring makes it difficult to have confidence in yourself.
- Isolation: Concern about your appearance may compel you to isolate yourself from social gatherings.
- OCD: It might be possible that you already have OCD, or there is a high chance of developing it.
How is it Diagnosed?
Diagnosing this condition includes a physical exam. It also focuses on your medical history and cognitive response. The diagnosis can be recognized based on different categories:
- Finding recent skin abrasions
- Constantly trying and failing to control your condition.
- Heightened insecurity about self-appearance and embarrassment.
- Developing body dysmorphic disorder.
How to Deal With Your Symptoms
The first thing to do is to assess your symptoms. This offers you to get a hold of your situation. But never self-diagnose. It would help if you considered consulting with a licensed therapist who can help you understand your symptoms and offer you the best possible suggestions.
Things you can do to deal with your symptoms:
- Establish a transparent relationship with the consultant. Talk to them about your condition and be honest about your triggers and responses. You can expect your therapist to offer you medical and emotional help.
- Be consistent with your therapy sessions and seek advice for any other care that might be helpful for you.
- Stay consistent with your medication, if prescribed any. The drug could be about your skin condition, or it could be about your impulse regulation.
- Learn to recognize your triggers and try avoiding them as much as possible.
- Separate the rewarding sensation from the act of skin-picking. Replace the act with a different habit.
- Consider options that keep you occupied. It can be in the form of a fidget spinner or a fidget ring. You might also wear gloves to avoid the sensation of finding skin irregularities.
Related Conditions
Dermatillomania can be associated with different disorders affected by its symptoms.
- OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder): You might even be susceptible to OCD, as the symptoms have a chance of overlapping.
- Trichotillomania: Hair pulling disorder. It can even be repetitive or compulsive.
- Onychophagia: Excessive nail biting. In severe cases, it can even cause bleeding.
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Obsessing over appearance and trivial flaws.
- Depression: Getting depressed over skin conditions.
- Anxiety disorder: Developing anxiety that might be due to skin picking. Or uses it as a trauma response.
Get Treatment From a Licensed Therapist Who’s Right For You
If you are suffering from dermatillomania, finding help from a trusted therapist is your best option. This condition gravely affects the quality of your life. And it isn’t something that you should turn a blind eye to. There are always options that you can look into. It can be beneficial to get regular counselling sessions from a professional. The positive impact of staying consistent can be evident in your daily life.
A mental health professional can offer you help in different forms. Their compassion can provide moral support. You get to foster other skills to cope with your situation. You must remember that there is help available. All you have to do is take the step and meet the therapist that is right for you.
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