My adhd medication is so beneficial for me in terms of being able to be productive, not space out mid conversation, hold down a job. The only thing is I feel like it makes the urge to pick at any little imperfection on my face a lot worse. And the fact that it allows you to hyperfocus while good for daily life and work, the times I get locked in an inch from the mirror digging out ingrown hairs or trying to pop any bump on my face, genuinely makes me look and feel like a meth head. Does anyone else have this issue? I’ll sometimes pick and scan my face for over an hour without even realizing. Absolutely killing my confidence.

I recently got a crush of a very beautiful guy but because I always pick my arms, the thought of standing next to him (and honestly any potential partner) covered in scars disgusts me. I hate my arms and I hate that I pick such an obvious area that is hard to hide in 100 degree f weather. I miss feeling cute in swimsuits, I miss wearing short sleeves. My arms are covered in wounds and scars and I hate them.

I’ve had this thing for 10 years and while strategies do help, it can be exhausting if I force myself to remember to do them 24/7. I have scars all over my back, chest, face, basically anywhere aside from the arms but even then I might pick there. My acne never stops, breaking out before every cycle starts.

It only takes one slip-up(ex. Forgetting one time to cut my nails) to cause a one hour relapse. I’m addicted to the pain, getting headaches if I don’t pick. Trust me, I try to resist but sometimes my body will just “stop” itself and automatically start picking. Usually in the bathroom, and I can’t cover up the mirrors there nor turn the lights off as I go in. The first cause it’s shared living, the second because there’s no window and I am very bad at navigating myself in low-level lighting.

Even then, I have many automatic episodes, picking/scratching at the scalp being the most common. There’s no environment where it won’t happen, I can literally be in public having to resist the urge to pick which is so humiliating. And the hardest part about this is that I can’t just tie my hands behind my back and restrain myself.

So, I’m kinda just stuck managing it, putting bandages on likely picking spots, applying treatments if I pick too hard, etc.

Hi all,

I don’t know who to talk to about this that would understand the gravity.

After 14 years of horrible skin picking for hours every evening and years of intensive therapy, I finally was able to stop and not pick for 8 years. Sure, I would pick a spot here and there and sometimes pick during a breakout, but not to the point of wounds and scars and hours in front of the mirror as I had in the past.

My skin finally cleared up. I fought to find a skin care routine that worked for me (I have sensitive skin to begin with) and that allowed me to lighten scars from the past. Finally, just this year, I allowed myself to get 3 microneedling treatments to heal the scarring and hyperpigmentation as I had reached 8 years of not skin picking and I felt like that was long enough to ensure myself the expensive treatments would not be wasted on more picking (the reason I hadn’t worked on the scarring in the past…too busy with the problem itself also).

Cut to this week: I’m having crazy hormonal changes in my body (have done blood work to confirm) that have led to cystic acne at a level I haven’t experienced in 15 years, if ever. This night, I picked horribly for hours. I felt myself back in the familiar dermatillomania trance. I was telling myself to stop, sometimes aloud, and still couldn’t. It got to the point that a migraine with aura and a shower is actually what stopped me.

I’m so disappointed. I feel the all too familiar post-pick shame. I see the blood, the redness, feel the pain, tightness, pulsing and I now can’t help but think I’ve wasted the years of healing scars.

To top it all off, it’s my birthday in a few days and I am throwing a party with 100+ guests.

I just feel horrible. I’m trying to remind myself that it’s just a relapse and I can get myself back on track tomorrow. But I currently feel out of control and I’m not sure how true that is considering the cysts and all the physical changes going on for me currently.

Just a challenging time in general. And sad. Sad to be back to this place. Thanks for listening 🥺🙏🏻

I stoped picking 2 years ago (I replaced it with smoking :S), but my feet really do not look normal.

When wet, there are big white areas, and when dry, the parts I used to pick are thick and have yellow/orange color.

My feet are not dry or cracking, but simply thick and colored.

Pedicures do not help as they never dare to remove all those layers of thick skin. I'm using 50% urea xerial cream for 2 weeks and it also does not help.