How to Talk to Your Doctor About Skin Picking

Practical ways to describe skin picking to a doctor or therapist, prepare useful observations, and ask for appropriate support.

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You do not need to wait until skin picking reaches an arbitrary threshold before raising it with a clinician. There is also no verified basis here for claiming that most people wait more than a decade to disclose it.

Choose a Starting Point

A primary-care clinician can examine wounds or possible medical contributors and discuss referrals. A dermatologist can address skin injury and conditions such as acne or eczema. A mental-health professional familiar with BFRBs can assess the behavior and discuss behavioral treatment.

The TLC Foundation for BFRBs maintains a provider directory. Confirm a provider's training, licensing, availability, and telehealth options directly.

A Script You Can Adapt

"I repeatedly pick my skin and have had trouble stopping. It is causing [wounds/distress/lost time/avoidance]. I would like help assessing it and discussing treatment or a referral to someone familiar with skin picking disorder."

You can use the terms skin picking disorder, excoriation disorder, or dermatillomania, but you do not need to diagnose yourself.

Bring Useful Information

  • Body areas involved
  • The actions involved, including any tools
  • Wounds, infection signs, scarring, or pain
  • Repeated attempts to stop
  • Time lost or effects on work, school, sleep, or relationships
  • Medicines, supplements, substances, and relevant skin conditions
  • Patterns you have directly observed

Photos may help document a changing wound if you are comfortable taking them securely, but they are optional. An app count is not required and should not be described as an exact clinical measure.

Questions to Ask

  • What diagnoses or medical causes should be considered?
  • Do any wounds need treatment now?
  • What behavioral therapies are available?
  • What are the benefits, limits, and risks of medication or supplements?
  • Do you have experience with BFRBs, or can you refer me?

If a clinician is unfamiliar or dismissive, you can ask that the concern be documented and request another opinion. Seek prompt medical care for spreading redness, warmth, swelling, pus, red streaks, fever, worsening pain, uncontrolled bleeding, or a deep wound.

Untouched can provide records of hand-to-face events it detected during computer use. It cannot diagnose skin picking, measure severity, or replace your description and a clinician's assessment.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.