In this blog, I want to explore what skin picking disorder is, my story with it and the ways I try to tackle it.
As a starter, let’s look into what this disorder is about.
I find Mental Health America’s description very accurate:
Excoriation disorder (also referred to as chronic skin-picking or dermatillomania) is a mental illness related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is characterized by repeated picking at one’s own skin which results in skin lesions and causes significant disruption in one’s life.
Individuals may pick at healthy skin, minor skin irregularities (e.g., pimples or calluses), lesions, or scabs. This disorder is usually chronic, with periods of remission alternating with periods of greater symptom intensity. If untreated, skin-picking behaviors may come and go for weeks, months, or years at a time. It is common for individuals with this disorder to spend significant amounts of time, sometimes even several hours a day, on their picking behavior.
Skin picking is a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) that typically begins during adolescence, commonly coinciding with, or following the onset of, puberty around ages 13-15, but may also occur among children (under 10 years old), or adults (between the ages of 30 and 45). [1] Excoriation disorder affects approximately 1.4% of American adults, and is experienced by women more often than men. [2]
https://www.mhanational.org/conditions/excoriation-disorder-skin-picking-or-dermatillomania
For me, it started when I was 10 years old, when I started to get small red bumps on my arms, a little pimply on my forehead, and started noticing blackheads on my nose.
I remember that around the same time, one girl in my 5th grade class said, “I heard you should never pick pimples, it will burst and spread it all over your skin”, but this knowledge didn’t stop me from trying to get rid of my spots.
Since then it’s developed into a habit that no matter how many times I try, how many ways I cover the mirror or wear gloves, I cannot completely get rid of. I felt ashamed of my habits and the hours I spent in trance attacking my skin, ashamed of the scars and worsening of skin that I caused, and thought for many years that it was the matter of will power and that I was simply not trying hard enough to overcome this ‘little habit’. While this may still be true, I cannot express the relief I felt when, finally, a year ago (in the first months of the pandemic), I somehow came across this disorder on the ~internet~. I think there is something about getting to know that you are not alone, and that if this is a disorder, maybe there is a way to get better, and get help.
Right now, I am trying to tackle my habits by trying out ways that my dermatologist/psychiatrist recommends(whom I found after getting know about the disorder), as well as little ways that I developed myself.
I will explore more about the triggers, the things I do to calm my urges, as well as the potential deep-rooted reasons behind my actions, and also consequences of this disorder and how it has affected me.
I want to finish off this post with a series of questions by WebMD (yes I know) that could indicate you have skin picking disorder.
・Does picking at your skin take up a lot of time during the day?
・Do you have noticeable scars from skin picking?
・Do you feel upset when you think about how much you pick your skin?
・Does picking at your skin get in the way of your social or professional life? For example, do you avoid the beach or the gym because people might see your scars? Or do you spend a lot of time covering up sores before work or social events?
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/skin-picking-disorder
If these questions apply to you or feel that they may apply to someone close to you, you’re not alone I promise. I hope that my story could help someone out there and please don’t hold back from looking for resources and professional help.
