this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
9 points (100.0% liked)

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

86 readers
1 users here now

What is this community?

This is a support community for people who have Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.

What are the rules for this community?

  1. Be Kind
    • Conversation and opinions are allowed, but aggressive, demeaning, belittling, prejudicial or otherwise harmful behaviour is not allowed.
  2. No asking or offering surgery/drugs advice
    • It's ok to mention surgery/drugs, but giving out or asking for advice about it is strictly not allowed. It's extremely important that advice involving serious medical procedures is only taken from and given by licensed medical professionals, not people in this community.
  3. No linking to triggering content
    • Linked content that is considered to be triggering is not allowed.
  4. No spamming
    • Spam posts/comments are not allowed. Spam posts/comments are defined as containing content that is unrelated to BDD or the OP, or containing content that is the same/similar and posted repeatedly in a short space of time (3 or more times within 4 days).
  5. No selfies
    • Selfies are not allowed as they can be triggering to others and are rarely helpful to the poster. To expand, posts containing links to selfies or instructions to find their selfies are not allowed.
  6. Content containing strong derogatory language should be marked as NSFW
    • Sometimes people may want to vent and may use derogatory language to refer to themselves. This is allowed as we don't want to alienate people reaching out for support however it must be marked as NSFW as it can be triggering to others with BDD.
  7. No social or political commentary
    • This rule is in place as social and political commentary are often negative and unhelpful, and may even be triggering.
  8. No gatekeeping, invalidation, or lookism
    • We do not allow gatekeeping or invalidating others' experiences on any basis. Also directing a conversation from BDD to lookism, incel rhetoric or gender divide is not allowed.
  9. No asking or offering of pictures or private feedback
    • We do not approve of users asking or offering photos for purposes such as "getting/offering honest opinions" or "improvement advice". This includes offering to provide personal consultation or feedback without photos. This rule is in place as feedback can potentially be very damaging to someone with BDD. Asking users to send photos, publicly or privately, is not allowed.
  10. These rules are subject to change
    • If there is overwhelming support for the revision of one of these rules then the rule will be reviewed and community input listened to. Alternatively if I feel I have neglected to create an important rule, or want to revise a rule to make it clearer, then I reserve the right to add to or change the current rules.
  11. Please report any content you think is in violation of these rules for us to review
    • This will help us moderate the sub and provide a better experience for everyone.
  12. Do not refer to or ask for content that promotes surgery or drug use
    • This is strictly forbidden as surgery and drugs can be very harmful if they are not done/used properly as directed by a licensed medical professional.
  13. Comments should remain on the topic of the post
    • Comments that don't contribute to the post are unhelpful and not allowed.
  14. Posts should remain on the topic of BDD
    • Posts not on-topic are not helpful and not allowed.

What happens if these rules are broken?

As a side note I am open to messages if people would like to discuss the rules or this sidebar.

Free Resources

Credits

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

So this was an absolute game-changer for me, but it was also something I didn't even consider as a potential option until about 4 years into my BDD.

When I look back, I find it really surprising I didn't at all consider it, but by the chance I'm not an outlier, I'd like to make men aware that this is a something they can consider.

On the website dermnetnz.org on the Cosmetic camouflage page, it says this:

'Cosmetic camouflage has been shown to improve the quality of life significantly. It improves patient self-esteem and creates a sense of personal well-being.'

This is when I first had the notion that this was something I could try, and I haven't looked back since.

At least for me, getting my skin to look initially better was really not much effort and surprisingly not one person noticed I had anything on my face.

However I am still getting better and better at using it. I recommend allowing yourself some time to learn how to do it before giving up on it, as does DermNet: 'It may take some practice to achieve a satisfactory final appearance.'

Also I highly recommend dermnetnz.org. It's a reputable, non-profit dermatology resource with guides for people with any kind of skin-related questions, and it was recommended to me by my Doctor.

And if you'd like confirmation that this can be effective treatment for BDD, see this video, a video brought to my attention by @[email protected] (thank you Sora!) which is made by the BDD Foundation (you can see the community sidebar for details on this organisation but in short it's a very helpful BDD support charity). And here is a screenshot of the part of the video with the confirmation: A table with the heading 'SOME DIFFERENCES IN APPROACH'. In the second row down and third row across 'Can be helpful e.g. concealer for scars' is circled

Thanks for reading, and I hope this might be of use to someone :)

top 1 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing what personally helps you with your BDD as a male. I'm sure that many others out there still aren't in the know about the technique, so it's great on you to try to change that by speaking about it here! What's more, it's backed by the experts too, I made sure to bookmark DermNet myself.

Thank you for the shout out too in your post, it makes me happy that the video could help you make your points.