Skin Picking Disorder

It is a chronic disorder characterized by compulsive and repetitive picking of the skin, leading to tissue damage that maybe visible to others and may require various dermatological treatments. It is similar to OCD and impulse control in which there is increased tension prior to skin picking and a sense of tension relief or gratification after the skin picking.

Causes could be:

• Repressed rage at authoritarian parents
• Marital conflicts
• Act of assertion
• Passing of loved ones
• A source of erotic pleasure

Most common sites are:

• Face (most common)
• Legs
• Arms
• Torso
• Cuticles
• Fingers
• Scalp

There is mostly a primary picking area and there are other areas that patients pick in order for their primary area to heal.

To confirm its diagnosis, skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and other medical conditions like diabetes mellitus, polycythemia vera, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, liver or kidney disease etc should be ruled out.

Age of onset: 30-45 years or early adulthood.

Treatment involves psychiatrist (medications and psychotherapy like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and dermatologist working together.