i also suffer from the fear, my mom and sister tease me about it alsmost everyday. i thought i was the only one.

I too suffer from this phobia and for many years thought I was alone. I have done a bit of research and it would seem that there are many of us out there. The fear of buttons even has a name, koumpounophobia.

hi, my name is kafi and i come from south africa. i have also had a fear of buttons since the age of seven and i hate loosened buttons on shirts. the problem is that my problem extends to hating shirts in general, linens, corners of clothes or sewing threads. it makes my life hell because i can't even eat when they are around in the room.

I have the same phobia and have had since I was around 5 years of age. My parents would have jars of them (buttons) around the sewing room (WHY?) like you would need that many! I would place tea towels over the jars, so that I would know they (the nastiness of them) couldn't get to me. To see someone, especially women wearing ornate buttons on dresses or anything just makes me cringe. I was 23 before I could even wear Levi 501 jeans with their tabs instead of zippers, but I was determined to beat the phobia and wear 501's. I think I must have choked on one, or something like a penny to cause the fear to start so early, I hope I never find out.

I only wear t-shirts, sweaters, pull-overs, etc. I'll wear a dress shirt to a wedding or funeral (putting them on with gloves).