Introduction. Body dysmorphic disorder ( is a distressing body image disorder that involves excessive preoccupation with physical appearance in a normal appearing person. Patients with body dismorphic disorder have high rates o f psychiatric hospitalization, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Although any part of the body may be the focus of patient’s concern, preoccupation with the appearance of skin, hair, and nose are most common. Typical associated behaviors include ski n picking, mirror checking, and camouflaging (e. with a hat or makeup). Reassurance seeking is another common behavior that can be enacted with surgeons and dermatologists. Materials and methods. All relevant information was obtained from literature re view. Results. Body Dysmorphic Disorder affects 1.7% to 2.4% of the general population about 1 in 50 people. This means that more than 5 million people to about 7.5 million people in the United States alone have body dismorphic disorder. It’s possible th at body dismorphic disorder may be even more common than this, because people with this disorder are often reluctant to reveal their body dismorphic disorder symptoms to others. Most surveys of body dismorphic disorder patients attending a psychiatric clin ic tend to show an equal sex incidence, and sufferers are usually single or separated and unemployed. It is possible that, in the community, more women are affected overall, with a greater proportion experiencing milder symptoms. Although the age of onset of body dismorphic disorder is during adolescence, patients are most likely to present to cosmetic surgeons, dermatologists, ear, nose, and throat surgeons, or their GPs. They are usually not formally diagnosed by mental health professionals until 10 15 ye ars after the onset. Conclusions. The onset of body dismorphic disorder usually occurs in adolescence, and, therefore, particular attention will need to be given in research to risk factors preceding the onset. One aim of future research is to determine wh ich factors (or combination of factors) predict future persistence of extreme self consciousness so that interventions may be divided for those at risk. In the meantime, it seems important to identify these individuals, many of whom may be found in obsessi ve compulsive disorder, mood disorder, dermatologic, and surgical conditions. These patients might respond to psychiatric treatment and that might help them avoid unnecessary cosmetic surgery.