As far as I am aware, Trypophobia does not officially exist, that is it has not been formally identified as a real phobia. However, many people out there suffer from this often-debilitating phobia, it is a very real fear. Trypophobia is simply the name that sufferers have assigned to their condition and the word is growing in popularity to the point where it may eventually be included in the dictionary.

The main problem for sufferers is that the holes, which cause the most distress, are those that occur naturally such as the pores of the skin. Personally, I don’t look too close at my own skin just in case I feel compelled to pick it apart!

But trypophobia is a very specific phobia. It is not just a fear of any old holes, but usually it is of holes that are small, clustered together and of irregular or asymmetrical appearance. Any hole that has something poking up through it is high up on the levels of disgust. For example, rows of equally sized equally spaced holes may not affect some sufferers but take that same symmetrical row of holes and have something poke through them and that is a very different matter. (Just writing about this is cringe worthy).

It isn’t just holes, trypophobia can also include things such as bubbles, spots, warts and verrucas etc. These are all things that seemingly poke up out of a hole.