Knowledge about effective treatments for<unk>  is sparse, despite the prevalence of the condition. There are two major classes of therapy for<unk> : pharmacological and behavioral. Individuals with<unk>  often do not seek treatment for their condition, largely due to feelings of embarrassment, alienation, lack of awareness, or belief that the condition cannot be treated. One study found that only 45% of individuals with<unk>  ever sought treatment, and only 19% ever received dermatological treatment. Another study found that only 30% of individuals with this<unk>  sought treatment. Medication There are several different classes of pharmacological treatment agents that have some support for treating<unk> : SSRIs; opioid antagonists; anti-epileptic agents; and glutamatergic agents. In addition to these classes of drugs, some other pharmacological products have been tested in small trials as well. Antipsychotic, antianxiety, antidepressant, and antiepileptic medications have all been used to treat skin picking, with varying degrees of success. SSRIs have shown to be effective in the treatment of OCD, which serves as an argument in favor of treating<unk>  with the same therapy. Unfortunately, clinical studies have not provided clear support for this, because there have not been large double-blind placebo-controlled trials of SSRI therapy for<unk> . In fact, in a meta-analysis of pharmacological treatments of<unk> s, it was found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and lamotrigine were no more effective than a placebo for longterm effects. Reviews of treatment of<unk>  have shown that the following medications may be effective in reducing picking behavior: doxepin, clomipramine, naltrexone, pimozide, and olanzapine. Small studies of fluoxetine, an SSRI, in treating<unk>  showed that the drug reduced certain aspects of skin picking compared with a placebo, but full remission was not observed. One small study of patients with<unk>  treated with citalopram, another SSRI, showed that those who took the drug significantly reduced their scores on the Yale –Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale compared with a placebo, but that there was no significant decrease on the visual-analog scale of picking behavior. While there have been no human studies of opioid antagonists for the treatment of<unk> , there have been studies showing that these products can reduce self-chewing in dogs with acral lick, which some have proposed is a good animal model for body-focused repetitive behavior. Furthermore, case reports support the use of these opioid antagonists to treat<unk> . Opioid antagonists work by affecting dopamine circuitry, thereby decreasing the pleasurable effects of picking. Another class of possible pharmacological treatments is glutamatergic agents such as N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). These products have shown some ability to reduce other problematic behaviors such as cocaine addiction and trichotillomania. Some case studies and some small studies of NAC have shown a decrease in picking by treatment with NAC compared with placebo.<unk>  and trichotillomania have been treated with inositol. Topiramate, an anti-epileptic drug, has been used to treat<unk> ; in a small study of individuals with Prader–Willi syndrome, it was found to reduce skin picking. Psychological Treatment Treatments include cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance-enhanced behavior therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Several studies have shown that habit reversal training associated with awareness training reduces skin-picking behavior in those individuals with<unk>  that do not have psychological problems. Habit reversal training includes awareness enhancement and competing response training. For example, in one study the competing response training required participants to make a closed fist for one minute instead of picking or in response to a condition that usually provokes picking behavior. Developmentally disabled Several different behavioral interventions have been tested to treat<unk>  in the developmentally disabled. One method is to have individuals wear a form of protective clothing that limits the ability of the patient to pick at their body, e.g., gloves or face mask. Other behavioral treatments attempt to change behavior by providing different incentives. Under Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO), a patient is rewarded if able to abstain from the picking behavior for a certain amount of time. In contrast to DRO, Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) rewards an individual for engaging in an alternative behavior that cannot physically occur at the same time as the problem behavior (e.g. sitting on your hands instead of picking at your skin). Lastly, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior rewards behavior that is not necessarily incompatible with the target behavior but serves the same function as the target behavior (e.g., providing people with a competing behavior to occupy their time instead of skin picking). All of these techniques have been reported to have some success in small studies, but none has been tested in large enough populations to provide definitive evidence of their effectiveness. Biofeedback Tentative evidence suggests that devices that provide feedback when the activity occurs can be useful.
Excoriation disorder
Trichotillomania
Necrospermia
Papulosquamous disorder
Adermatoglyphia
Oral galvanism
Pellagra
Trichostasis spinulosa