What are neurotic excoriations?
What are neurotic excoriations?
Neurotic excoriations are self-inflicted skin lesions produced by repetitive scratching. Because there is no known physical problem of the skin, this is a physical manifestation of an emotional problem.
What causes neurotic excoriation?
Neurotic excoriations can be initiated by some minor skin pathology, such as an insect bite, folliculitis, callouses, scabs, or acne, but it can also be independent of any pathology.
Is Dermatillomania a mental illness?
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.
Can excoriation be treated?
Excoriation (skin-picking) disorder is treated with a variety of psychotropic medications. Attempts to treat it with a variety of psychotropic medication classes include antipsychotic agents, antianxiety agents, antidepressant agents, topical cortisone agents, and antiepileptic agents.
What is picking your skin called?
Also called dermatillomania or excoriation disorder, skin picking disorder is where you cannot stop picking at your skin. There are things you can try to help yourself, but some people may need professional treatment.
What autoimmune disease causes skin picking?
This inevitable urge to pick at my body with tweezers isn’t just a weird quirk of mine: It’s a serious condition with many names, but it’s most commonly known as dermatillomania, or excoriation disorder.
What causes a person to pick at themselves?
People may pick their skin for various reasons. Some may feel compelled to remove perceived imperfections, while others pick in response to stress, boredom, or out of habit. In many ways, skin picking disorder is a repetitive or obsessive grooming behavior similar to other BFRBs, such as hair pulling and nail picking.
What is a BFRB?
More Than a Bad Habit Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) are intense urges like biting, picking, and pulling that can cause damage. As many as 1 in 20 people have a BFRB, but they can be dismissed as “bad habits.” While BFRBs share some symptoms with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), they’re not the same.
Is excoriation hereditary?
Causes. There may be a genetic component to excoriation disorder, since some people appear to have an inherited tendency to BFRBs such as skin picking and hair pulling, as well as higher-than-average rates of mood and anxiety disorders in first-degree relatives.
What is the definition of a neurotic excoriation?
Neurotic excoriations are skin lesions produced by the patient through repetitive scratching, without an underlying physical pathology.
What do you need to know about excoriation disorder?
Excoriation (skin-picking) disorder involves the conscious creation of neurotic excoriations by means of repetitive scratching (although acts of rubbing skin, lancing, squeezing or biting can also be used and individuals may use tweezers, fingernails or other objects).
How are neurotic excoriations different from dermatitis artefacta?
Neurotic excoriations should be distinguished from dermatitis artefacta, in which patients create lesions for secondary gain. Neurotic excoriations can be initiated by some minor skin pathology, such as an insect bite, folliculitis, callouses, scabs, or acne, but it can also be independent of any pathology.
Is there a prevalence of neurotic excoriation in dermatology patients?
There is a 2 percent incidence of neurotic excoriations among dermatology clinic patients 5 and a 9 percent prevalence of neurotic excoriations in patients with pruritus. 6 The condition primarily affects female patients (52 to 92 percent in various studies). 1, 7, 8 Most studies 1, 7 report a mean onset between ages 30 and 45 years.
