Sabotaging my face - new and needing support!

Pretty skin I really understand. This crazy disorder ruins so much of life. I read another site on Friday stoppickingonme.com Reading all the stuff about the delicate structure of the skin and the way the site is written has really helped to start me off stopping, and using this 30 day challenge is really focusing me. I have resisted picking all weekend, day 3 today. I am taking pictures every day to make myself accountable for any "cheating" and I have given up make up. I am not covering this up any more (except for a party on saturday night!) We don't have to spoil our faces, we can get this into perspective and treat our skin with the respect it deserves. I'm on here every day because I need everyone, keep coming back, it will help. So my top tips so far... learn more about your skin structure so you can respect and trust it reward yourself with some gel nails after a few successful days - it'll make you feel smart and the nails will make picking harder Instead of picking have a glass of water - it'll distract your hands and help your skin. take a picture everyday so you can chart your progress and be accountable for "cheating" I am trying these things, and 3 days is the longest I have ever been without a good old session. Good luck and keep in touch x

Hey guys, I'm so pleased that you are doing well! I had my first 100% pick free day yesterday since I started picking 15 years ago. So it can be done. I like the water idea, but I think I'd be drinking all day long haha! I've made a blog to help me stop picking, it seems to be helping, head over and we can try and stop picking together. http://secretskinpicker.wordpress.com/ Good Luck, you can stop :-) x

littlemisspicky, I really like your comment, "treat our skin with the respect it deserves." I also think it's great the way you and Prettyskin have been helping each other along and keeping each other accountable. I'm very curious about what you would say if you had to put your "one emotion" into words? Mine is something like frustration/anger/dissatisfaction/powerlessness/self-hatred. Okay, that's 5 emotions. But they're all rolled into one!

I feel your pain! It feels like you're so alone but you're not the only one! I've had a really bad day today with picking. I really want to stop and i do well for awhile and then i have a blow up and i get so angry with myself. Staying like 2-3 feet from the mirror when you do your make up has helped me. It's really hard to not get closer but each time i've done this i've had a really good day. This is a really hard battle and i feel like i'm getting better but i still have these really bad days once in awhile. Try and go for as many days in a row as you can without picking and it does get easier. i get stuck on day 4 or 5 for some reason. I understand your pain. It's really hard. Maybe we can continue encouraging each other? I need an accountability partner!

Ive been picking my scabs ever since i was 18 im 21 now. Its not leaving scars yet but im scared there going to leave scars soon. I had a bunch of them on my leg just on my shin and on the fronts of my arms and now on my face lately but i cant help but pick them off i feel like a dog!! I used to be a neat freak with my parents house and always did.laundry i like to do it but ever since i stopped that ive been picking i know ive had stress but it feel like something in my body needs to come out. Ive had blood tests everything fine except my iron is very low. Just spots keep showing up as pimples and then the next day there open scars. I thought i was allergic to dog fur but i dont think so... And whenever i wake up i feel the need to pick all my scabs all over again!! Ive just started using tea tree oil on my face it doesnt work at all i have combination skin but i cant rwally use anything.. Helppp

i noticed someone mentioned tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is really harsh and can burn and inflame the skin, preventing healing. like another form of harm. It's a great anti-bacterial and makes a good wash for wounds and acne for that reason... but it shouldn't be applied directly and undiluted to sensitive facial skin. I used to use it, especially when i feel the urge to approach the spots in a really super defensive, overly harsh way, which is what this problem is all about to me. Same with compulsively removing layers of 'blemished' skin, either through picking, peeling, scratching, digging, scrubbing.... I think part of the twisted appeal in that hefty burn, kill all living things feeling that tea tree (and other harsh drugs, cleaners, gels, etc) gives is like the hardcore reactionary response to the skin doing its thing, expressing its own issues in ways that seem imperfect or problematic. But i'm beginning to realise that for all the trouble, the drawn out scarring, the mountains out of molehills, that it has to be worth the time, patience etc of taking a more compassionate approach. Our skin's issues are connected to our own, and to our environment, hey? I've come here cos I compulsively pick at my acne, which sometimes isn't even bad till i get at it... I've been blaming it on acne, but it really is habitual as well as emotionally driven, as you guys might feel. the skin is now more a victim of my attitude than the other way round. my boyfriend is starting to really come down on the problem. I know i scratch my face in public sometimes when i get stressed or worried or lose awareness for some reason, but i would usually not let people see me do it very much (although it's hard to hide the evidence when i've had a go at it). With him i've let my guard down. He sees me picking. He knows i check the mirror and touch my face. and because he's said stuff about it i've become defiant and will just say, 'whatever, there's no point, it's already messed up, i'm just touching it, it's not your problem, it's just *my face*, it's itchy, i don't care... ... ...' any excuse so that i don't have to face the problem (especially when i feel like someone else has called me on it- i'm stubborn). maybe you know what i mean... but it's obviously a problem. it's unpleasant, self-harming, self-sabotaging, wrong, gross and it gets in the way of a lot. I had no idea there was an actual name for this and people who do this same stuff til today when i finally decided to google it (can't believe i never have when it's such a big problem for me... i guess i have only slowly started to admit that it's seriously neurotic and doing way too much damage). anyway, i've been throught the external remedies... the skin is an organ, the one we see. it's got to express the shit we put in the body, including the hormones and chemicals we produce through emotions and stuff. lack of sleep, stress, fear, anger, bitterness, jealousy, junk food, alcohol--- if you think i'm just talking about causes of acne and have strayed from the ''dermatillomania'' issue, these things don;t just affect acne, but also the state of our nervous systems and mental health.. i suspect that for some of you (like for me nowadays) the skin itself might not be your problem, or if it is, it's only a background problem to the neurotic fixation on fixing the perceived problem. maybe there's no acne or dermal problem, but our lifestyles, our feelings, our food, all affect the skin and the nervous system that links to the cycle of self-harm... but skin needs a good little ecosystem going and to be free from constant disturbance and all out war, it needs nutrient resources, moisture (from within), balanced pH etc to heal and to defend itself. it's hard on our bodies that many people live in such busy, cramped and polluted environments, with such a confusing array of food choices and such a disconnect from clean water and air, etc. a problem is that the skincare market, which operates in dermatology clinics and doctors surgeries as well as beauty peddlers, would have us believe that the answers lie in topical ointments, pills and other marketable goods. same with the psychiatry market, if it's gone beyond any actual dermal problem. so when those things don't work and we don't respond to the solutions like we're told we will, we get frustrated and just go nuts trying to punish the offending organ.. (maybe, i'm no psychologist...) but if we really took time we'd know that it's a whole life type thing, a balanced approach that takes into account multiple aspects of ourselves (body, mind, heart) that's necessary to come to terms with why we can't relax in our own skin... let it breathe. let it break out. let it hurt and let it heal. so easily said. not so easily done once a habit has become entrenched. especially since it means taking responsibility for our own happy future. anyway. i'm also working on breaking the habit. i've been at my best at times when i've been happiest (is that a chicken/ egg story?)...but no, i really noticed a difference when i was getting lots of clean fresh water (filtered or fresh from the creeks if they are at all existent in your area), getting sunshine and exercise, doing things that built my self-esteem, mental health, and resilience in times of stress, and that help keep things in perspective... like meditation and creative stuff. cos those things contribute to healthy attitude, which reduces anxiety and makes you love yourself more, so that hurting yourself doesn't seem to make as much sense. also meditation as a preventative against losing self-control and self-awareness. i was good with not scratching for about 6 mths while i was meditating every day or every other day. then i rebelled against my own better judgement and let go of that good habit. and many bad habits came back 3fold. ALSO i just found this girl on youtube today who talks about quitting picking and touching the face. she has obviously also spent a lot of time and energy to find out about treating the skin from within. thelovevitamin. it's the sort of info we might all seek but never find time or energy to collate to the degree she has. anyway. good luck. also i might try keeping a diary of some kind, to get a better understanding of what sets me off on skin-picking, scratching, squeezing and nail-biting benders. i think also maybe replacing a 'scrub and purify' type skincare regime with a 'nourish and heal' based one would let us pay attention to the skin but in a gentle, accpeting, compassionate way rather than a perfectionist way.