Trypophobia

Trypophobia is a proposed name for the phobia (intense, irrational fear) of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. The term is believed to have been coined by a participant in an online forum in 2005.

Trypophobia is not the name of a diagnosis in the American Psychological Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) and it is rarely used in scientific literature, according to Jennifer Abbasi of Popular Science. Abbasi said, "professionals who study and treat phobias tend not to use all the Latin and Greek names that get tossed around on message boards and in the press." However, on blogs and in internet forums, thousands of people claim to have trypophobia. Psychiatrist Carol Mathews said, "There might really be people out there with phobias to holes, because people can really have a phobia to anything, but just reading what's on the Internet, that doesn't seem to be what people actually have." According to Mathews, most people writing online are likely disgusted by these types of images without meeting criteria for a real phobia.