Our skin is often covered with tiny imperfections – blemishes, moles, cuts and spots that we’re all guilty of picking at from time to time. Consider the temptation of that bulbous yellow head of a spot ready to erupt, or peeling back a scab that’s been there for days to find the newly healed skin beneath.
But for some, skin picking is not an occasional guilty pleasure, but an obsessive condition known as excoriation disorder. Or to give it a medical name, dermatillomania. It is relatively common in the general population. Self inflicted skin disorders, of which dermatillomania is one example, account for around 2% of clinical appointments in dermatology.
Dermatillomania is more than just finding satisfaction in popping a volcanic spot. It is a disorder that can have serious and even fatal consequences. It is characterised by consistent picking at the skin, which becomes a habit, much as nail biting or thumb sucking does. This may focus upon the different pigmented spots that are visible (such as moles or freckles), in an attempt to reduce their appearance or dig them from the skin.
If the patient also has an associated dermatological disorder such as eczema, psoriasis or acne which causes lesions to develop, this may exacerbate a........