Compulsive skin picking

Compulsive skin picking (CSP) is a nervous disordercharacterized by the repeated urge to pick at one's own skin, often to the extent that damage is caused. The disorder is known by many other names: dermatillomania, chronic skin picking, neurotic excoriationand acne excoriee.

Damage from CSP is common on the face, back, scalp, and extremities, usually caused by a mixture of rubbing, scratching, picking and tweezing. Focus may be placed on ingrown hairs, scabs, insect bites, pimples, or cuticles. Sufferers of the condition may enter a trance-like state, only to be confronted with the results afterward.

Research into the cause of the condition has been limited, but it has been linked to obsessive-compulsive disorderand body dysmorphic disorder. Few treatment options are currently available, but some individuals have found relief through cognitive-behavioral therapy.

It has been seen in psychosesof many people the 'creation' of foreign objects to satisfy the need to pick or damage one's own skin. Many psychiatristshave studied this and found the only real cure is to immobilize the offending object (hands, etc.). The most success has been seen with protective caststo make the picking impossible. In these test cases the skin healed almost immediately, with outbreaks not recurring until the casts were removed.

External links

• OCD Center of Los Angeles - Compulsive Skin Picking
• Discussion/support groups:
  • Face & Skin picking support message boardat ProBoards
  • Pickaderms, a Yahoo! Group
  • Self Injurious Skin Picking forum

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive+skin+picking Wikipedia article Compulsive skin picking.