Are you a plucker? What started as an innocuous urge to look good has left one woman with permanently scarred breasts and face and disfigured fingers.
Charlotte Starling is addicted to plucking. According to an article in the Daily Mail (warning: graphic images), the 27-year-old British mom started plucking her eyebrows out of boredom and anxiety when her daughter started school. But over time the urge to remove hairs become a compulsion.
"Because I’d got through the day without a panic attack, I did the same the next day. It became a coping mechanism," Starling recalls. "Every day I would drop her off and rush straight home, draw the curtains and start to pluck as a way to keep my thoughts controlled and my mind calm."
She spent hours removing stray facial hairs, then gradually moved on to the backs of her fingers, and eventually her breasts.
Now Starling has opened up about her skin picking disorder, known as Dermatillomania, as a means to raise awareness and help others. The condition is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) that can lead to bleeding, bruising and infections, sometimes causing permanent damage.
Like self-harming, those who pick at their skin often do so during times of heightened anxiety and derive a sense of relief or even pleasure immediately afterward.
Sadly in Starling's case, she was able to hide the damage under her clothes, so her condition went undiagnosed for a long time. She is now undergoing counseling and cognitive behavioural therapy.
At her lowest point she had more than 20 pairs hidden in various places in her home.
Kudos to her for bravely coming forward. Let's hope she gets the help she clearly needs. For more information about dermatillomania, visit the OCD-UK website.
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