Skin picking disorder: Does a person's sex matter?

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Dermatology
• Genetics

Background:

• Skin picking disorder (SPD) involves recurrent skin picking leading to tissue damage.
• Limited clinical data exists on men diagnosed with SPD, despite research suggesting fewer than half are male.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate sex differences in the clinical and cognitive characteristics of adults with SPD.
• To compare demographic factors, comorbidities, and skin picking behaviors between men and women with SPD.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 95 adults (17 men, 78 women) with SPD.
• Analysis of variance and likelihood ratio Chi-square tests were used to compare continuous and categorical variables, respectively.

Main Results:

• Men with SPD were more likely to report a family history of skin picking or hair pulling disorders.
• Men tended to pick from fewer sites, avoiding the scalp and back, unlike women.
• No significant differences were found in SPD severity, disability, impulsivity, or quality of life between sexes.

Conclusions:

• Skin picking disorder (SPD) appears to be similarly impairing for both men and women.
• Men with SPD may exhibit a higher genetic or familial predisposition and distinct patterns of skin picking sites.
• Further research with larger samples is needed to explore sex-based variations in SPD, particularly familial loading in males.