Awareness support for automatic skin picking
A Dermatillomania Awareness App for Automatic Skin Picking
Untouched gives you a gentle alert when your hands move toward your face during computer use, helping you notice automatic behavior early enough to use the strategies you are practicing.
Runs locally on Mac. Not medical treatment. No video leaves your device.
Where the app fits
Automatic movement
Your hand moves toward your face while attention is on work, study, or a screen.
Awareness alert
Untouched gives a real-time signal that brings the movement into conscious awareness.
Practiced response
You can lower your hand, use a competing response, or apply another strategy.
Pattern learning
Repeated awareness helps you understand when computer-time behavior is most likely.
Dermatillomania is not simply a bad habit
Dermatillomania, also called skin picking disorder or excoriation disorder, is a body-focused repetitive behavior. Picking may be focused and deliberate, automatic and outside awareness, or a mix of both. Repeated attempts to stop through willpower alone often fail because the behavior can regulate emotion, provide sensory stimulation, and operate as a deeply learned habit loop.
A dermatillomania app cannot address every part of that cycle. What it can do is support one specific foundation: noticing automatic hand-to-face behavior during computer use.
Notice sooner
External alerts can catch behavior that self-monitoring misses during focused computer time.
Use your strategy
An alert creates a moment to use a competing response, grounding skill, or planned pause.
Review patterns
Awareness over time can help reveal high-risk periods and contexts to discuss or plan around.
Designed to complement evidence-based support
Awareness training is a core component of habit reversal training. Untouched can provide an external awareness signal while you build the skill of noticing automatic behavior yourself.
It can be one layer alongside therapy, CBT or ACT skills, trigger tracking, stimulus control, competing responses, and professional medical care when needed.
Compare dermatillomania apps, wearables, and other technologyAwareness training
Notice the movement that begins an automatic episode.
Competing responses
Use the alert as a cue for an action that is incompatible with picking.
Trigger planning
Connect recurring computer-time patterns with stress, boredom, fatigue, or concentration.
Professional support
Bring observations to a qualified therapist or clinician when appropriate.
Best fit
- Your picking often happens automatically while using a computer.
- You want help noticing hand-to-face movement in real time.
- You already have, or want to build, a response plan for alerts.
- You use a Mac and care about local webcam processing.
Private by design
Untouched analyzes face and hand landmarks locally on your Mac. Your live webcam video is not uploaded, streamed, or stored on our servers. The app records detection events rather than your camera feed.
Read the full data transparency detailsWhat Untouched can and cannot do
It can support
- Awareness of automatic hand-to-face movement.
- Behavioral practice during computer use.
- A cue to use a planned competing response.
- Reflection on recurring computer-time patterns.
It cannot
- Diagnose or treat dermatillomania.
- Replace therapy, medication, or medical care.
- Know why your hand is near your face.
- Monitor picking away from your Mac.
If picking causes wounds, signs of infection, scarring, significant distress, or disruption to daily life, consider speaking with a qualified mental health professional or healthcare provider familiar with BFRBs.
Add real-time awareness to your support plan
Try Untouched during the computer-time situations where automatic hand-to-face behavior is hardest to notice.
FAQ
Can an app help with dermatillomania?
An app can support awareness, trigger tracking, and behavioral practice. Untouched is designed to help you notice automatic hand-to-face behavior during computer use, but it does not diagnose or treat dermatillomania.
Is Untouched a treatment for dermatillomania?
No. Untouched is an awareness tool, not medical treatment. It can complement habit reversal training, therapy, and self-help strategies, but it does not replace care from a qualified professional.
How can real-time alerts support habit reversal training?
Awareness training is a core part of habit reversal training. A real-time alert can help you notice automatic hand-to-face movement sooner, creating an opportunity to use a competing response or another strategy you have practiced.
Does Untouched know whether I am picking my skin?
Untouched detects hand-to-face movement. It cannot determine your intention or diagnose a picking episode, so you decide whether an alert relates to picking, scratching, resting your face, or another action.
Does Untouched record or upload webcam video?
No. Detection runs locally on your Mac. Webcam video is processed on your device and is not uploaded to a server.
When should I seek professional help?
Consider professional support if picking causes wounds, infection, scarring, significant distress, or interferes with daily life. A clinician or therapist familiar with body-focused repetitive behaviors can help you explore appropriate treatment.