The New Morgellons Order

Most report a ‘skin crawling’ sensation. Patients usually have severe excoriations from continued scratching. Many have large open sores. As a pediatrician, scabies would be high on my differential diagnosis list, but many other disorders might also be considered.

What makes this so different is that many patients have also noticed other skin symptoms and changes in their skin and hair. Some of the descriptions are quite bizarre and unlike anything I had ever been taught or observed. Frankly, the descriptions are so far from anything most of us think of as typical or even possible that credibility is quickly strained.

Many patients report they have seen ‘fibers’ come out of their skin. They report seeing these odd fibers in their home and cars and report they have never seen these before. Even more strange, many report seeing living insects emerge from their skin! Many patients, thinking it the appropriate step, collect specimens and present them to the physician they consult---commonly a dermatologist.

Eighteen months ago, I was not familiar with the psychiatric diagnosis Delusions of Parasitosis. The term ‘match-box’ sign was not familiar to me. That is the term used when patients who believe they are infested with parasites collect skin specimens in a container (in the past, this was most commonly an empty matchbox) to show their doctor. This sign is supposedly pathognomic of Ekbom Syndrome, now generally known as Delusions of Parasitosis or DOP.

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