Nobody is perfect. For most people this is a well accepted fact of life. But some people just aren’t happy with their looks so they decide to improve them. Some people diet, some exercise and some have plastic surgery.

But what about those who take it one step further and become obsessed with improving their looks? These are the people who spend hours getting ready to go out in hopes you won’t notice the tiny bump on their nose, or spend every free minute at the gym trying to bulk up or lose weight when they are already 10 lbs underweight. In worse cases they turn to plastic surgery seeking procedure after procedure and are just not happy with the end results; thinking they are still ugly.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a mental illness when a person is preoccupied with minor or imaginary physical flaws, typically of the skin, hair, and nose. Some symptoms include:

• Fear of Pictures: The person will go to extremes to not have their picture taken.
• Mirrors: The person goes out of their way to make sure their home has no mirrors at all or they are overly obsessed with looking at their appearance for hours at a time in mirrors.
• Fear of the Public: Always feel they are being judged based on their looks and will hide from public gatherings.
• Disguises: Hair, make-up, clothing; hours are taken to cover up their flaws or distract away from them.

Some people will even go as far as pre-planning certain ways to sit or stand thinking that one side of their body looks better then the other.
This is a mental illness that many surgeons must take into consideration when interviewing patients who continually return for plastic surgery.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a serious mental illness; and in our image conscious world, is something you might want to think about if you or a person you know obsesses over looks.

For more information on Body Dysmorphic Disorder please visit the following sites:
Healthy Place
Body Dysmorphic Disorder Central
Los Angeles Body Dysmorphic Disorder Clinic
Butler Hospital