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freshstart2014 , 02 Jan 2014

New to this site -2014 will be the year I stop picking

Hi everyone, I'm so glad I found this site. I have been compulsively picking my skin since I was 14. I am now 32. It's hard to believe it's been 18 years. My picking is primarily from the waist up - face, neck, chest. Miraculously, I only have minimal scarring. I'm very ashamed of this behavior. I don't like the way it makes me look, I don't like how compelled I feel to do it, and I don't like how I use it to deal with stress and other uncomfortable feelings. I don't like that I treat my body in this disrespectful and destructive way. Today, the first day of 2014, I spent over an hour picking my skin. Hours later, when I look in the mirror, what I see shocks and disturbs me. Still, after all these years. Since it's the new year, this is a time when people feel motivated to change behavior. I see that there are others here trying to make a new change. I hope that we can help each other.
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Flynn
January 02, 2014
As I posted in another topic I'm also planning to quit this year; it's something that I've been working at for a few years now and actually although I had this disorder in smaller levels since childhood I found it really became overwhelming after my laser eye surgery. I know it was that on top of the hormonal changes caused by going off of birth control. Anyways I haven't picked in two days now and I'm going to do everything I can to prevent doing it in the future.
Flynn
January 02, 2014
Well unlike some pickers on here wearing gloves or cutting my nails doesn't work for me because I don't pick using my nails, I actually pinch at the pimple with two bent fingers. So I wear hand lotion that will break me out if I touch my face and I avoid looking in the mirror unless it's needed. Other then that I think about how bad I feel after picking and what it does to my skin on an hourly basis and constantly remind myself of the goal. In the past I've taken a photo of myself after a bad session to remind me of what I'm doing. Before bed I tend to pick the most so after I use my apple cider vinegar toner and exfoliate I wear jojoba oil until bed. The oil is great because it makes it too oily to pick and actually moisturizes my skin very well without breaking me out.

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