Free self-check · 2 minutes · nothing stored

Skin picking self-check

Eight questions about the past week. You get an instant, private reflection on how much space picking currently takes up — everything runs in your browser, nothing is sent or saved, and no email is asked for. This is a self-reflection tool, not a diagnostic test: the validated clinical scales (like the Skin Picking Scale-Revised) are administered by clinicians.

Written by Matthis Damm, founder of Steady Updated 23 July 2026

1. How often did you feel the urge to pick this week?

2. When the urge came, how strong did it feel?

3. How much time did picking take on a typical day — including checking your skin and covering up afterwards?

4. When you tried to leave your skin alone, how did that go?

Didn't need to try Usually managed Managed about half the time Rarely managed The urge won almost every time

5. How much did picking weigh on you emotionally this week — upset, frustrated, or embarrassed about it?

6. Did picking get in the way of everyday things — being on time, focusing, plans with people?

7. Did you avoid anything because of your skin — short sleeves, swimming, bright light, being seen up close?

8. What does your skin currently show?

Nothing visible A few small marks Marks that take time to heal Open spots or frequent wounds Lasting marks or scarring

Do I have dermatillomania? What the actual criteria say

Skin picking disorder — also called dermatillomania or excoriation disorder — is a recognized condition in the DSM-5. In plain language, clinicians look for five things together: recurrent picking that leads to skin lesions; repeated attempts to reduce or stop it; the picking causing real distress or getting in the way of daily life; the picking not being caused by a substance or another medical condition; and not being better explained by another disorder. Only a clinician can weigh those criteria for you — a web check like this one can help you decide whether that conversation is worth having.

How common is skin picking?

More common than most people who do it believe. A large US study estimated that about 2.1% of adults currently meet criteria for skin picking disorder, and about 3.1% at some point in their life — with many more picking at a level below the clinical threshold. If picking feels like a strange private habit no one else has: statistically, several people on your street have it too.

What tends to help

The best-studied approaches are behavioral: habit reversal training teaches you to notice the urge early and hold a competing response until it passes, and the decoupling technique redirects the movement itself. Both are learnable at home. Understanding why stress and picking feed each other makes both easier to apply.

Turn noticing into a skill

Steady is an iPhone app that helps you log urges in a tap, see your personal trigger patterns, and practice habit reversal and decoupling with gentle reminders. Private, no account, and a hard week never erases your progress.

Download on the App Store

Sources

American Psychiatric Association. DSM-5: Excoriation (skin-picking) disorder — criteria summarized in prose above.
Prevalence of skin picking disorder in US adults. PMC7115927
Snorrason I et al. The Skin Picking Scale-Revised: validation. J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord, 2012 — the validated clinician-context scale whose domains (not items) informed this self-check. PubMed
International OCD Foundation: Body-focused repetitive behaviors. iocdf.org

This self-check is an original reflection tool and not a validated diagnostic instrument; it cannot tell you whether you have a disorder. Steady is an educational self-help tool, not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If your skin is damaged or infected, or picking causes you significant distress, please talk to a doctor or licensed therapist.