# What creates trypophobia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017 "2015-07-24T03:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/41 "2015-07-26T11:19:41Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Today’s (26 July) NASA Earth Picture of the Day (EPOD) ([http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2015/07/metasandstone-in-noosa-national-park-australia.html](http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2015/07/metasandstone-in-noosa-national-park-australia.html)) is a close-up of some weathered rocks that loosely resembles the lotus seed irregular-honeycomb-of-dents. Definitely not a crappy Photoshop. > > I thought it was pretty, but some folks who’re mildly bothered by this stuff might take a peek & report back. For Science. Doesn’t bother me in the least. Neither do bees and wasps. This has no effect either aside from being visually interesting: [http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day\_o\_2121041.jpg](http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day_o_2121041.jpg) The effect kicks in for me when it’s irregular and biological. Bonus points if it looks scaly and moist and with something wriggly inside. [http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d.\_w.1500\_s.fit\_.jpg](http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d._w.1500_s.fit_.jpg) [![](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/aa15e47d-f5b4-48ef-92c3-acbf12a3a85c/d845wuy-62b302d1-7548-4681-b888-99eb1a61eb4e.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9hYTE1ZTQ3ZC1mNWI0LTQ4ZWYtOTJjMy1hY2JmMTJhM2E4NWMvZDg0NXd1eS02MmIzMDJkMS03NTQ4LTQ2ODEtYjg4OC05OWViMWE2MWViNGUuanBnIn1dXX0.W1coz1UMN2OM5WvqnFWr8OntbYbqZ3ILYG9e-ozBThs) ](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/aa15e47d-f5b4-48ef-92c3-acbf12a3a85c/d845wuy-62b302d1-7548-4681-b888-99eb1a61eb4e.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9hYTE1ZTQ3ZC1mNWI0LTQ4ZWYtOTJjMy1hY2JmMTJhM2E4NWMvZDg0NXd1eS02MmIzMDJkMS03NTQ4LTQ2ODEtYjg4OC05OWViMWE2MWViNGUuanBnIn1dXX0.W1coz1UMN2OM5WvqnFWr8OntbYbqZ3ILYG9e-ozBThs) Sweet dreams:[http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image\_by\_viarae-d79metp.jpg](http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image_by_viarae-d79metp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/42 "2015-07-26T11:43:45Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Doesn’t bother me in the least. Neither do bees and wasps. This has no effect either aside from being visually interesting: [http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day\_o\_2121041.jpg](http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day_o_2121041.jpg) > The effect kicks in for me when it’s irregular and biological. Bonus points if it looks scaly and moist and with something wriggly inside. > [http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d.\_w.1500\_s.fit\_.jpg](http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d._w.1500_s.fit_.jpg) > > [http://orig14.deviantart.net/00a5/f/2014/298/0/c/trypophobia\_2\_by\_innarose18-d845wuy.jpg](http://orig14.deviantart.net/00a5/f/2014/298/0/c/trypophobia_2_by_innarose18-d845wuy.jpg) > Sweet dreams:[http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image\_by\_viarae-d79metp.jpg](http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image_by_viarae-d79metp.jpg) This is what I was thinking. Things that are irregular tend to be infested while healthy growing things tend to be more symmetrical. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/43 "2015-07-26T13:06:16Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Doesn’t bother me in the least. Neither do bees and wasps. This has no effect either aside from being visually interesting: [http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day\_o\_2121041.jpg](http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day_o_2121041.jpg) > The effect kicks in for me when it’s irregular and biological. Bonus points if it looks scaly and moist and with something wriggly inside. > [http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d.\_w.1500\_s.fit\_.jpg](http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d._w.1500_s.fit_.jpg) > > [http://orig14.deviantart.net/00a5/f/2014/298/0/c/trypophobia\_2\_by\_innarose18-d845wuy.jpg](http://orig14.deviantart.net/00a5/f/2014/298/0/c/trypophobia_2_by_innarose18-d845wuy.jpg) > Sweet dreams:[http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image\_by\_viarae-d79metp.jpg](http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image_by_viarae-d79metp.jpg) How about the inside of a [pomegranate?](https://www.google.com/search?q=pomegranate&biw=911&bih=378&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIkK3fyu34xgIVTM-ACh1WEAPH) Does that bother you too? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/44 "2015-07-26T14:54:57Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I wonder if people who are most “trypophobic” (i.e. who are most grossed out by such things) are the same people who are terrified by wasps, bees, and the like. Not here. I have no fear of bees unless they land on me, and even then only in the normal, “please don’t sting me” sense. My wife, on the other hand, is terrified of bees because of a childhood incident and has no revulsion to hole patterns. > [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Doesn’t bother me in the least. Neither do bees and wasps. This has no effect either aside from being visually interesting: [http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day\_o\_2121041.jpg](http://img.memecdn.com/such-a-lovely-day_o_2121041.jpg) > The effect kicks in for me when it’s irregular and biological. Bonus points if it looks scaly and moist and with something wriggly inside. > [http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d.\_w.1500\_s.fit\_.jpg](http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51bd4dcadbd0cb1f8400201d._w.1500_s.fit_.jpg) > > [http://orig14.deviantart.net/00a5/f/2014/298/0/c/trypophobia\_2\_by\_innarose18-d845wuy.jpg](http://orig14.deviantart.net/00a5/f/2014/298/0/c/trypophobia_2_by_innarose18-d845wuy.jpg) > Sweet dreams:[http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image\_by\_viarae-d79metp.jpg](http://orig12.deviantart.net/7258/f/2014/068/b/d/image_by_viarae-d79metp.jpg) I actually gagged at that second one. I’m with you- it has to be biological, and the more it resembles a parasite infestation, the grosser it is. > [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > This is what I was thinking. Things that are irregular tend to be infested while healthy growing things tend to be more symmetrical. This is exactly it. It looks like maggots eating dead flesh. > [@Honey](#): > > How about the inside of a [pomegranate?](https://www.google.com/search?q=pomegranate&biw=911&bih=378&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIkK3fyu34xgIVTM-ACh1WEAPH) Does that bother you too? Yes! It’s disgusting! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/45 "2015-07-26T15:08:38Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > The DSM definition of a phobia includes provoking panic attacks and irrational responses. > > If you don’t like seeing something on the Internet and close the window whenever it appears, that’s a rational response. You don’t have a “phobia” unless you have a habit of passing out, taking out a knife and stabbing your computer screen, or so forth when such images come up. > > “Trypophobia” is basically an imgur-invented term spuriously elevating the fact that some people don’t like looking at certain images to a disorder. What’s the difference with everything else that we usually call phobia, like arachnophobia? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/46 "2015-07-26T16:13:51Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > How about the inside of a [pomegranate?](https://www.google.com/search?q=pomegranate&biw=911&bih=378&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIkK3fyu34xgIVTM-ACh1WEAPH) Does that bother you too? > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Yes! It’s disgusting! Nope, looks tasty. ---
**Author:** ![92sallymae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/edb3f5/32.png) [@92sallymae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/92sallymae)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/47 "2016-07-05T07:49:35Z")
I’m so disgusted at hoards of staples in telephone posts. The wooden ones where people post their lost pet or garage sale posters. It makes me physically ill.Even the sight of pores or little bubbles in drinks make me want to vomit in my mouth. I’ve had this fear forever and don’t know why, but I guess I have Trypophobia. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/48 "2016-07-05T08:30:39Z")
This kind of stuff disgusts me, not enough to have a phobia but yeah, it just gives me an urge to smash the thing into oblivion, and it feels like deep down its the whole riddled and infested with parasites image it creates in my mind. We recently left some garbage in the garage that was open with food inside and the next day I found maggots all over it. Its bizarre because I’m so repulsed by them I almost vomit but at the same time I felt the need to smash every one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/49 "2016-07-05T10:03:49Z")
Am I missing something here? The reason why we find these things repulsive seems really, really obvious. 😕 These things all look like a \*really \*serious infection. \*Most \*of them look like a clear case of fly strike. (I will not post images of fly strike, you can do your own search. If you want \*really \*similar images, do a search on “bot fly”. I warn you: if you suffer from this condition, you \*will \*vomit. The images you see will look identical to many pf those already posted, but they are not photoshopped and they are of actual diseased individuals). (Now wheres that pukey smiley?) At the very least the images posted look like a severe skin ulcer (and again, you can do your own search if you want to vomit). The reason why we would innately “fear” the symptoms of a serious infection hardly needs explaining does it? The whole “phobia” seems ludricrously simple to me. If you didn’t know that that was a photo of perfectly healthy quokka, it looks like the animal has an open wound to the abdominal cavity. It’s hardly surprising that we have evolved to feel disgust at animals or people with such clear symptoms of infectious disease. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/50 "2016-07-05T13:50:10Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > … > > Something like this doesn’t bother me as much, even though it’s clustered holes too: > [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/93/bc/1d/93bc1dcc5774b6088dd38d8d1975b2b3.jpg](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/93/bc/1d/93bc1dcc5774b6088dd38d8d1975b2b3.jpg) > > … Ah. I wondered what somebody bothered by holes thought of the granary trees created by acorn woodpeckers. Common in CA chapparal areas. (The acorn woodpecker drills holes in the trunks of dead trees to store acorns in, often completely riddling it. Always struck me as an awful lot work to go to for an acorn.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/51 "2016-07-05T14:30:25Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Am I missing something here? The reason why we find these things repulsive seems really, really obvious. 😕 > > These things all look like a \*really \*serious infection. \*Most \*of them look like a clear case of fly strike. > > (I will not post images of fly strike, you can do your own search. If you want \*really \*similar images, do a search on “bot fly”. I warn you: if you suffer from this condition, you \*will \*vomit. The images you see will look identical to many pf those already posted, but they are not photoshopped and they are of actual diseased individuals). (Now wheres that pukey smiley?) > > At the very least the images posted look like a severe skin ulcer (and again, you can do your own search if you want to vomit). > > The reason why we would innately “fear” the symptoms of a serious infection hardly needs explaining does it? > > The whole “phobia” seems ludricrously simple to me. > > If you didn’t know that that was a photo of perfectly healthy quokka, it looks like the animal has an open wound to the abdominal cavity. It’s hardly surprising that we have evolved to feel disgust at animals or people with such clear symptoms of infectious disease. Is that the cause or the effect though? We naturally seek order in this world, especailly in living things, and infections have the kind of disordered appearance we don’t associate with living things. I don’t know if there’s a way to separate the cause and effect here. I agree that this may not be a phobia, anymore than rational fear of harm is a phobia. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017/52 "2016-07-05T15:23:12Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Hence the lack of tourism to Blackburn, Lancashire. It’s late, but I finally saw what you did there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creates-trypophobia/726017.md?page=2)