Article posted Thursday, April 10, 2014 11:42am

Lotus seed head. Public domain image.

Anyone out there suffer from trypophobia? The name literally means “fear of holes.” Sufferers become uncomfortable or even repulsed by viewing photographs or actual structures riddled with holes. Workers in England studied this phenomenon by selecting 286 adults aged 18-55 years of age and showing them a face-on photograph of a lotus seed head, which is full of seed holes. Eleven percent of males and 18 percent of females found the image “uncomfortable or even repulsive to look at.” Some trypophobics say that the sight of clustered holes makes their skin crawl. The researchers suggest that “fear of holes” might have originated with ancient man and a possible aversion to scars and sores. Although it is an unusual phobia, its cause is unknown. In the event you suffer from this condition please know you are not alone. (Scientific American Mind, Mar./April, 2014)