©Aiko273 2007

Dermatillomania (also known as compulsive skin picking or CSP) is an obsessive compulsive disorder characterized by the repeated urge to pick at one's own skin, often to the extent that damage is caused.

Sufferers of dermatillomania find skin picking to be stress relieving or gratifying rather than painful.

Damage from CSP is common on the face, back, scalp, and extremities, and is usually caused by a mixture of picking, scratching, biting, 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 disorder. Some sufferers feel that "picking off" pimples or skin abnormalities may help them look more "normal", which is a symptom of body dysmorphic disorder.

Many sufferers feel the need to create pickable surfaces in order to satisfy their compulsion. This may lead to self-harm in the form of mutilation or cutting in order to produce scabs. Some sufferers report picking at inanimate objects or others' skin.