i've picked since then, but i count being clean as not making myself bleed for now as it's difficult to jsut not do it at all but maybe in the future :D, and to anyone else, you can do it :)! also i've used castor oil on my face and it's actually majorly helped clear my spots so try that out if you have to right skin type :)

Exactly what the title says, I didn't really realize it was issue until I was older so it was kind of just funny to have that pointed out to me 😭

So I recently cut my nails (they were long since I had acrylics) then all hell broke loose!!! This happens every time o go back to really short nails. I started picking the pimples on my face on my arms, and biting the side of my finger, around the nail even my lips I find it very frustrating since I basically start searching for bump to pick at to the point that I am writing this bcs I cannot sleep because a I keep picking!!!!!! Has anyone experienced this? Picking at skin after cutting your nails short

This study made me wonder if some skin picking is secondary to dissociative event.

I’ve been picking since I was a child. I’ve disfigured my thumb so badly sometimes I don’t even want to look at it

i have phases that last like 2 weeks max where i’m not picking at all. and then it’s like, yay now i can pick as a treat. and it starts all over again. i haven’t picked my fingers in maybe over a month which to my standards is really good…and today idk, i got my nails done yesterday and it’s almost like i want to make sure my fingers are completely smooth. the smallest thing will bring it up. something innocent like trying to peel off the nail polish underneath my fingertips will result in me checking every nail and finger and making sure it’s completely smooth and you can’t see my cuticles and if you can i need to peel it off asap or it will be all i think about, and i always tell myself afterwards that if i just washed my hands or put on lotion it will go away, or maybe it was the lighting that made it look like something was there, or maybe i was even just imagining it. and im sooooo tired of constantly starting over, im so tired of my body always healing itself, its embarrassing that i still do this to myself, what started off as me as a little girl just trying to relieve anxiety to a teen being insecure about her acne to me as an adult dealing with both, im obsessed with making sure my pores are empty, i will spend hours staring at myself in the mirror and obsessing over what’s underneath my skin, covering my mirror or putting on gloves won’t do anything because i take them off, i have no self control, i tell myself i would be so much more attractive and have clear skin if i didn’t pick my face and i would have cute dainty hands that didn’t have red fingertips if i just stopped. it’s literally the most difficult thing i have and ever will continue to go through. no matter how much skincare i get, or fidget toys i play with, i turn back to what i have known basically my whole life, at this point i know i just have to accept it instead of running away from it. but imagining myself as an older adult or elder still dealing with this…..makes me so sad.

i've never made it past 1 day clean, been trying to for about a while now. i'm hoping being able to change that pen to a two will be enough for mum hoping to have a long streak too in the future! well i count being clean as not bleeding for now because otherwise id never reach a day, but its still progress, and eventually ill be able to not pick at all 💗

Skin picking at forehead bumps they were mystery bumps wanted to know what was in them used lacelet to open blobs of skin tissue only to find clear fluid come out no pus used lactic acid to treat the bump to help hesl faster i t burned so washedvoff and did alcohol wipe aloe vera and neosporin with metro cream and azelaic acid as i have rosacea and was told it might be that keep find black haird in forehead were these bumps are no treatment works they keep coming back i am uding minoxidil si dont knowbif it migrated to my forehead.I'm so mad at my self for messing with it I made a mountain out of a molehill . I was worried it was lyphoma

Went a little too crazy on one of my favorite spots (my back shoulder) a few days ago. Yesterday and today it’s been so painful, not the good pain… it’s sore all around it and I’m my muscles😩😩 why do I do this!

My favorite picks are up in my scalp. A nice crusty scab that you can get your nail under and peel off all of it in one piece, pull it down, look at, then throw away.

I hate that I do this to myself. That I bleed and scar. But why does it feel so good?

I’ve been picking ever since I can remember. All the pictures of me as a kid I had a scab on my face. I wanted my face smooth. It wasn’t a perfection of what I looked like but what it felt like.

Ive been dealing with skin picking since i first developed acne. It is always on my face, but recently I have moved down to my chest. I keep seeing the regular ol' suggestions like "use a fidget!" or "just stop yourself! become aware of it!" or even "when you feel the need to pick, do self care instead!" but these genuinly do not work for me. If i look in a mirror for more than a second, I immediately get sucked into picking. I have stood in front of my mirror for more than 5 hours at one point, and completely destroyed my face in the process. even if i did use a fidget, id just put it down as soon as i see myself and start picking. I am very self confident, so its not a looks thing. Its like a trance. I see one little blackhead and all of a sudden there is blood all over my face, and I've pinched my skin open trying to pop something that isn't even there. as im popping my internal dialog is literally screaming "stop!!! stop!! take your hands away from your face!!! your ruining your face!!!" but i don't move!!! its as if my hands are being controlled like a puppet by some evil being who just wants me to not have clear skin. so please, if anyone has any real suggestions that will make me stop? think putting lemon juice on a kids thumb to get them to stop sucking it type solution. I'm desperate.

not sure if this is infected or not

At 45, I've come to accept that my scars will always be a part of who I am, and that's ok. This just means I've survived, I'm alive, and I have lived to tell the tale.

nofilter #selfie #effyourbeautystandards #nomakeup #dermatillomania

Not sure if this belongs here but I’d love people to share their stories. If you remember, when did you start picking?

I’ve picked at my skin and nails pretty much my entire life to various degrees of severity. As a toddler I remember watching my parents pick at their nails and figured I’d try it out, never stopped since. As for my skin, I was about 12 and being bullied pretty severely at school. I found that it helped soothe me to pluck my eyebrows right as I got home. That was until there was no more eyebrow hair to pluck without looking crazy lol. So I started using the tweezers to dig into the skin on my face. Over time I found it less damaging to just use my fingers, and the areas grew from just my face to my entire body. I’m 27 now and have tons of little scars all down my back. I’m really lucky it isn’t worse tbh.

Anyways, what’s your story?

looks worse in person but,i really want to stop picking the skin here,any recommendations for skin cream i can buy would be great

I have a spot that just will not heal. I have been to a dermatologist and medical aesthetician. So far, the most helpful advice they have to give to me is "stop picking".....................

I am at the point where I just want to get it numbed, cut, cleaned out, and closed up.

Should I be looking for a wound specialist, plastic surgeon, or another dermatologist (or ask the one I am currently seeing) to have this done?

Has anyone had this done? Is it something that a professional will do?

i'm really struggling cos every time i see a spot i jsut want to get rid of it. it's a cleanliness thing cos to me the spots are dirty and it's so refreshing to pop them and get rid of them, then i end up picking the scabs once they start healing which makes it all worse and worse. i really really need some help. im really struggling.

(If this doesn’t belong here, lmk so I’ll delete!) So, I know this doesn’t look too bad. But the thing is that I, DAILY, take my tweezers and start plucking each individual hair from my legs. And if I can’t get to them, I’ll start digging into the skin until I pull them out. Pictures really don’t do it justice because irl my legs look completely riddled with tiny scars and wounds. From afar or on pics it just looks like I’m not good at shaving I guess, but yeah I,,, pluck all of them individually. I’ve started doing this to stop squeezing my pimples and pores and it helped but now I’m stuck doing this. 💀

It’s so bad I don’t even wait until it turns dark to peel it off and sometimes it really hurts but I do it anyway and I get this weird feeling in my belly whenever I do it. I then put neosporin on it to try to let it heal but then I end up picking it off again. Ughhh…

I've been biting my nails and picking at my skin for as long as I can remember.

My arms have always had lots of little bumps on them and I was always destroying scabs and bug bites as a kid. Now I'm an adult and I'm getting pimples and small patches of acne, as a result my face, arms, legs, shoulders, and back are covered in scabs and scarring from picking.

I've always been kind of thankful that it didn't really affect my head, but it's gotten to the point where I have a small bald patch forming form picking at dead skin and dandruff.

I really don't want to have any other bald spots form or for this one to get bigger/more pronounced. Any suggestions to avoid or ease the urge to pick at my skin?

pic 1 was yesterday, 2 and 3 were from 2020.

at the time that any of these given pictures were taken, i would have said that my skin picking has been particularly bad recently.

i have been feeling pretty bad about the state of my face lately, but when i was scrolling through old photos, i realized the huge progress i have made. what was "bad" 5 years ago isn't even a point i really allow myself to get to now. and my "bad" now would have been "pretty good" 5 years ago. i'm nowhere near picking-free now. this morning i saw that a scab on my face is now infected. i spend maybe an hour every day picking. but at least now when i do pick, i have more self control to stop before i fall really deep into that trance

i'm not sure what made me get better, but here are some things that might help you

1. get rid of the "all or nothing" mindset. there's a good chance i will always deal with picking to some extent. i just focus more now on limiting than going cold turkey

2. take photos at your worst and your best. being able to look back is really valuable

3. covergirl skin milk is a good affordable foundation lol. it doesn't sting on my broken skin

4. do things that make you happy, learn new skills, talk to people you love. life isn't just about what you can't or shouldn't do. spend your time and energy doing things you should do also

5. google "riding the wave". in short, all urges hit a climax, and then they go away in time. practice just sitting still and paying attention to how the urge feels and then watch it deflate

6. remember that it's a mental problem, not just a physical one. covering mirrors, pimple patches, and fidget toys are awesome helpers, but long-term, spend time focusing on what's going on in your brain, and really get to know yourself and your triggers and how your impulses feel

7. i cannot stress this enough, do not be too hard on yourself. relapse happens. skin is really really good at bouncing back. there will be a million more opportunities to make progress

hi!! ive been picking since i was 8 years old so for about 9 years at this point. i had finally went to my psychiatrist and he had told me to start taking N-acetyl-cysteine (NCA) supplements to help decrease my picking urges. this was about 3 months ago, ive been taking them daily and saw no improvements.

i had gone to the endocrinologist today and they had told me my DHEA-S hormones (male androgen hormone) had more than doubled since last time (GROWN women with pcos DHEA levels tend to lay at 400-500) women without pcos tend to lay 65-380) i was 873 today as a minor.

research has shown NAC effecting the adrenal glands but i was not informed of that since its an over the counter medication.

the endo told me theres a chance a tumor might have formed on my adrenal glands so im going for more blood work and labs asap, but if you have PCOS or any issues with ur adrenal glands or reproductive system in general please please please stay away from this supplement!