Characteristics of piercing and screening for body dysmorphic disorder among individuals in Poland

Streszczenie

Introduction: Piercing is an art of body ornamentation that consists of piercing parts of the body such as the ears, nose, eyebrows, nipples or tongues. The aim of the current study was to analyse individuals interested in piercing and screen them for body image disturbances. Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional internet-based survey, conducted on 659 individuals from Poland. The survey was conducted using self-created questionnaire and Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire — Dermatology version (BDDQ–DV). Results: Six hundred forty-six (98%) participants were females and 13 (2%) were males, aged from 14 to 47 years (mean age ± SD = 21.8 ± 5.74 years). Most popular locations for piercing were ears (39.4%), nose (21.6%), nipples (9.3%) and (8.7%) navel. Mostly, individuals got their piercing from esthetical reasons (32.4%) or because piercing gives them power and strength (22.8%). In our survey, 21.1% respondents were screened positive for body dysmorphic disorder. In this group 138 (99.3%) respondents are willing to make a new piece of piercing in the future (vs. 91.7% whole group; p < 0.05), which was statistically significant. Conclusions: Such high prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) among pierced individuals indicates that clinicians should be aware of body image disturbances among pierced individuals and pay more attention to this group of patients.