[cybermember]

I find when I'm stressed I sit down in front of a magnified mirror and pick at my skin. Anywhere there is a blemish I have to get it out of my skin. I use the point of tweezers and the round part of a large bobby pin to press and squeeze them out and I don't stop until I feel I have sufficiently cleaned out my pores of dirt and grime. I've been doing this since my early teens and I'm now 45. I've learned how long the redness lasts and plan around it so that I don't see anyone for at least a half hour to an hour after I pick. And when I'm not stressed, well, then I just pick out of boredom. But after I pick I feel so much better.

Any other pickers out there?

[ThePainNeverDies]

I am!! I do it all the time, constantly picking at something, especially when I'm stressed, upset, or talking about uncomfortable things, I pick at clothes and such if there's no skin visible. I'm crazy about it!

You're not the only one! My boyfriend goes nuts at me for it hee

[mandazzle]

Yes! I pick at my skin constantly, and until I bleed. I've been doing it for so long and I never thought it was an actual problem. I still don't...

[lenjan]

I pick at my face constantly, to the point that it leaves visible scarring. I never thought there was anything behind it either, just a bad habit, but I'm told it qualifies as a form of self-harm, which I do more visibly in other ways.

[cybermember]

Skin pickers unite!

Seriously, though, I too read somewhere that skin picking is a form of self harm, most notably a form of cutting.

I've mentioned my picking to both my therapist and psychiatrist and both just write it down on their note pads, so I'm thinking it must not be a really big deal. But when researching about it online, it states otherwise.

I don't have any telltale facial scars or marks, so I have no intentions of stopping or the very least curtailing this compulsion. My body does have some blemishes, but I don't feel it's from my actual picking, but just from everyday zits and oily skin. Sure, I admit that my skin picking probably doesn't help them, but hey, for me my sanity is more important.

[jbug]

I to am a skin picker. I don't know why I do it I guess it's just out of habit if I have a sore I just pick at it until it heals itself and then it takes forever for it to heal because I am always picking at it.

I never did think of it as a form of self harm just a nervous habit of mine.

Jan

[kashbee]

I have been picking at insect bites on my legs and arms, and have been a cutter as an adolescent and as an adult when I have been so depressed/anxious/stressed that I feel that I am an adolescent again. I feel the picking is just a nervous habit as others do. I'd like to stop because my legs are ugly, but I don't even realize I'm doing it.

[x_BabyG_x]

Yeah but not on my face. I used to have trichotillomania when I was younger but I kinda grew out of it and cross addicted into picking my scalp instead. when Im wound up I can sit there in front of the mirror for hours. Its weird coz it really calms me down, even though my scalp is a bit ****ed and I crap myself when have to go to the hairdressers incase they say anything (thay havent so far)
Its strange how stuff like this develops isnt it? - bg x

[anything]

a girl i use to work with she would always itch the like outer rim of her ears and i asked her one day what she why so and she didnt really have an explanation just saying like she did it all the time to get the dead skin off. i didnt understand what she meant really. but like literally there was dead skin and she said she would pick at it all the time till it was raw and then she didnt pick anymore at it. then like some time later new skin awould grow back on it ..like within hours and shes always always doing it.

like is this ocd? is this bad or what. i want to understand it

[Hunny]

Maybe that was psoriasis? It comes off in flakes and grows back. It's a skin condition that can be controlled by certain creams and the right soap and other therapies. It's definately something to show a Dr.

Me too, I've been picking my scalp since I was a little kid and was obsessive about lice. But now I'm pretty obsessive about picking of any blemishes I find when I realized it doesn't hurt that much (sensitive skin). It can't be good but I do it anyways

[ThePainNeverDies]

I've been doing it loads recently.. It's getting pretty bad Maybe it's something us who do it, should take up with our drs at some point?

[hannahrachel202]

oh that's definitely me. if i even dare to look in a mirror, i'll be picking at blackheads for hours. i always have to do something with my hands though or i get restless. usually it's digging under my nails or cracking my knuckles

[tarabug922]

I pick my skin to any blemishes, or anything that looks like a blemish. usually until it bleeds. i don't know why i do it but i do know it calms me like nothing else can. since i was medicated for OCD some years ago it has curtailed this nasty form of ocd for me but i still pick in much smaller doses.

love and hugs,
tara

[Rachie]

I like 2 pick at my skin i pick absolutely ne thing! Im also constantly scraping under my fingernails aswel. Also i hav another weird thing, i hav 2 smell pretty much anxthing! Cups bowls, blankets, and also gross stuf like the stuf i scrape out from under my nails and pimples too...im a weirdo lol

This is a bit gross so stop reading now if you dont like gross ....


I had a skin condition I cant remember what it was called it was on the back of my head and on my ears they had to give me steriods to remove it or rather to get rid of it.

They failed it came back and I wont mention it to the Dr as I love pulling the skin off my head and ears, hubby thinks I am a bit off and should get it dealt with again but I am so focused on it that I refuse. I pull of lumps of my skin all the time and really enjoy it I dont know why.

[Rachie]

Is it psoriasis tishie? I get that and it stays 4 a few months then goes away n then comes back, i like picking at it cos it goes all flakey. I get the kind of psoriasis that looks a little like ringworm lol...as im writing this im picking at my face and scalp i just do it without even realising. I pick my nose 2 much 2 haha

Not sure they did give it a name they had to send samples off to be tested but I forget like I forget everything lmao

Brb busy picking ...........

[Rachie]

At least its something interesting 2 pick at lol =D

I do this too - I didnt really think much of it until I saw this post and did some research online. I'm really **** about having dirt under my finger nails and skin peeling - I have to get it all off and dig with scissors until its smooth...by which time my fingers are red raw and/or bleeding :s I havent been diagnosed with OCD (tho several online tests suggest I do have it) because my ****-ness doesnt rly bother me (tho it irritates those around me who dont get why everything must be so exact! lol) so I dont see the point in telling my pdoc. Tbh it's hard enough getting my pdoc to be interested enough with my severe depression atm!!
The thing is, my mum is rly getting on my case about the skin picking thing saying that I'm deliberately self-harming (I have SH'd in the past) and I've read that dermatillomania can be a SH-thing but is mostly an OCD compulsion. I leave my fingers alone if they are smooth so I think it's a perfectionism thing...but my mum just doesnt get why I cant just put moisturiser on and let my hands get smooth rather than making them bleed. I guess I dont know either... *sigh*
Anyway to other pickers out there

*Willow*

[miss_misery]

I pick my stomach from right below my boobs to the bottom of my rib cage. I don't do it as bad now but I used to do it from stress... if I was picking I just kinda zoned out... sometimes hours would pass by and I'd look down and my hands were covered in blood and my fingers were sore for days sometimes afterwards. My doctors have told me to knit instead but I think if I could tell myself to just knit and stop picking I would just stop the picking. When I get into those trance like states I have no clue but even when I just think there is something to pick at even though I know there isn't I still choose to pick and I can't stop myself!! I'll never be able to wear a bikini or be with a new guy without having to explain myself... I've lied before about the scars but really... now it's the least screwed up thing about me...

[SICKlySweet]

After reading everyone else's replies on here, I started thinking about all of my picking that I do/have done. Since I was little I used to scratch my arms till they bled and were *****.

I used to pick at this one spot on my head, that I had for years.( I picked it from about age 3 - 8 or later) What really sticks out in my head was that it would grow into a really tall scab, which I would pull off, and dig into the hole (sorry about gross info) I still have the scar/scab.

The last year I have found that to get the feeling back as to what I had when I was younger, I pull out the hairs from this scab, the first time I stopped because I noticed I was balding. IDK I seem to enjoy the pain.??????

I went to the Dermatologist a couple years ago for scars and she said at least 6 times about how I am a picker, and I need to stop, or else I won't get any help. These are on my face.

When nervous I tear paper, play with paper clips, pick off nail polish, flick my fingernails, roll tissue into tiny pieces. I touch my face, continuously.

If I see a mole where I don't want it, I cut it off (by digging into it). Usually looks worse than what it was. I know you can get cancer if u pick moles. :S But I do it anyways.

I have this rash like scar on my upper back just below my neck that I always scratch especially when the skin is hot and sweaty, I am worried about scarring, but I still seem to scrap and dig deep into it until it bleeds, because it feels soooo good. ??????

I pick in my ears, as soon as I find an owie I must attack it!!! I seem to like when it's infected, more goo. haha there is something wrong with me....

I find that doing these things feels as good or better as it does to eat. (Emotional Eater)

[Eleora]

I am a skin picker, too. I don't even notice when I am doing it. I am bad for my shoulders and face, mostly, but my fingers are in horrendous shape. My psychiatrist recommended wearing gloves but I can't always remember to and it's not like I can go to work or school wearing them all the time without looking a bit odd.

[StephanieDV]

I too, pick my skin constantly, I didn't know there was an actual name for it, but I have scars everywhere, on my forearms, upper arms, legs, stomach, face..if I see something to pick, it will be picked. I also bite my nails and the skin around my nails until they bleed, sometimes I even peel the top layer of my nails, gross I know. lol.

Someone had mentioned zoning out while doing this, I do, I go into deep states of zoning out and I either pick for hours, bite my nails for an hour or start tapping, cracking my knuckles, or keeping a repetitive motion of my leg or foot somehow, always.

[Sens123]

does this just effect people with mental illness?->