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abackas , 13 Aug 2009

I'm a woman and I pick my breasts! Does anyone else?

Hi there. I've been a fairly serious skin picker ever since I was about 13. I'm now 42. Also saw the A&E Obsessed show and could totally relate. I pick pretty much anywhere and everywhere on my body but my 2 MAIN areas are my face and MY BOOBS! It's just awful! Do any other women have this problem? It's so sad because it really is a beautiful part of a woman's body and here I obsessively destroy it. Anyway, I just discovered this site and forum. It's great. Hope to chat more.
218 Answers
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brownskin88
June 26, 2011
so how did you tell your husband about ur scars? Did you show him before you got married? My boyfriend wants to marry me, but I refuse to marry him because he has never seen me naked. Please respond! I have horrible anxiety about telling him.
Ellen
November 13, 2011
I know what you're talking about. I get those sometimes but not all the time. Embarrassingly, I usually eat them when I find them because the texture feels cool in my mouth. Sometimes I wonder if I have gone so deep as to be at the subcutaneous layer of my skin and the "seed" is a little fat pod? Or is it a sebaceous gland? Probably the reason you find you are having more problems in the areas where you pick is because your hands have bacteria on them, and when you open up the skin, the bacteria goes in and makes things worse. Plus it's inflammation.
concernedmom
August 28, 2010
My daughter has the same problem and it breaks my heart when I see it. I am so scared she's going to cause an infection. I am trying to find ways to help her stop but so far nothing has worked and I lack money to do others. In 7 more days she will be off Vyvanse completely and I am hoping this will help as well. I still believe these ADD drugs caused it as she had never picked before.
cyanosity
October 13, 2010
I'm 15 and on Vyvanse as well. Is there a proven connection? They recently raised my dose, and since then I've been giving my arms, scalp and breasts hell. It hurts, and it looks like shit too. If you have any advice, or know anyone around my age with the same problem, let me know, please!
asheville
May 12, 2011
ADHD/ADD meds are mostly amphetamine based, and an unfortunate side-effect can be obsessive-compulsive behaviors. This is one reason why meth addicts will pick at themselves neurotically creating obvious sores. Ironically, I"m a mental health therapist and an addictions counselor...making this habit I can't seem to overcome particularly shameful and frustrating for me! THis is my 1st posting, and I"m just crossing from voyeur to humbly involving myself and seeking support for recovery. I"ll be back soon, and hopefully lose my ego enough to get real...for my own sake :)
Shepicks
August 28, 2011
I can relate....I have had a therapist I have seen off and on for about 20 years now and it's the one thing I still haven't owned up to yet. I'm 42 and avoid relationships and I know I do because after any bad session, I have to heal. I tend to get so far healing then tear back into my breasts, undoing any healing I started on. The only thing I can say is that now that I am older, I've become more farsighted, making the whole thing less satisfying. Take out my contacts and holy hell-o...IT's like having a 30X magnifying mirror (which I won't have in my home although I desperately wish I could have one) because I pick until there is nothing left to excise. Sometimes I think that is the desire...to purge, something from me. . But it was your comment about losing ones ego that hits home. This behavior is so shameful, it is almost a cliché that I am now (in my 40's) only ready to deal/own it to my therapist. Hasn't happened yet but I know it will come and even then, it won't be that magic bullet I we are all so desperately seeking. This behavior has probably cost me relationships, marriage, having children, companionship all because I am so shamed and didn't ever want to be intimate with a man unless I didn't care if I ever saw him again. If I can be a cautionary tale to all you young girls out there struggling now, then I can live with that. Get help, tell at least one person, or just post on here for now, but go somewhere else than that trancelike state many of us seem to fall into. Best of luck to you and all others out there.
Ellen
November 13, 2011
I am currently in my second year of my master's program in counseling and I still pick and I have a little bit of trichotillomania (not as bad as the picking). I am not even out of school yet, and already I am feeling the pressure to "have it all together," not be "impaired," etc. etc. To that, I say bullshit, how am I supposed to relate to people if I don't have any struggles myself? eshapp@yahoo.com if you want to email me.
laura.beall
September 02, 2010
You're definitely not the only one. I've had this problem for a number of years. My face is another problem area for me as well. I've tried to stop, always without success because it's such an obsession and compulsion. At the same time that it's overwhelmingly frustrating, it's also so satisfying. I had no clue that there were so many other people who suffered from the same issue. Though I don't know what I'll be able to do to overcome it, it helps just to know that there are others out there. It's good to know that while my behavior isn't exactly healthy or normal, I'm not a freak either. Thanks for the encouragement in that way.
Cynic
September 04, 2010
I have a lovely scar on mine that I'm horrified won't go away, and a current spot that is healing. When I get them in these places i usually get more nervous and actually pick at myself more in other places. x_x
meagana07
September 23, 2010
I did the same thing for YEARS. I finally broke my habit by using using a qtip with a rubbing alcohol that eventually dried up the sores. It had a small burn but it was worth the small amount of pain to gain freedom from excessive picking. It really is a mind game. You have to gain control of your thoughts and actions! Hope this will help someone!
patpernet
September 29, 2010
I do. I get whiteheads on my boobs and they eventually get destroyed into scabs and then scars. I am trying the 21 day challenge with the help of light weight cotton gloves to keep on my hands (I wish I could glue them on) so I am physically unable to pick and destroy my skin.
cyanosity
October 13, 2010
I thought I was the only one! It hurts....but I can't stop.
unstoppable
October 13, 2010
Wow, I thought I was the only one too! I'm a 31 year old woman who can't stop picking...wow I can't even type it...my breasts! It's awful. Sometimes when I'm done I cry from not being able to control myself and how disgusting I think I am. Seems I'm not the only one...thank you all for your honesty. Does anyone have a real solution or tried therapy for it?
scarie
November 14, 2010
you are not alone - and neither am I it seems. I have picked at my breasts for many years - since my teens and I am 35 now. It started when I had a bit of acne there and blackheads and it's just continued on and on. Some of it is habit, some boredom and some anxiety. It makes me feel calmer in a strange way and satisfied but also replused at myself after. It stopped me from entering into sexual relationships for a long time and even now I am scared to have sex in or be seen in daylight. I hate feeling like this as yes, the boobs are what most men go instantly for. I can't get it out of my head that as soon as they peel my bra off they will be as repulsed as I am. Even when I stop pocking I have dirty blocked pores though which I have tried everything to fix, but it all just looks so disgusting. I am scared to even try with men any more now and that thought is extremely lonely and depressing as all I want is to find someone to share my life with and look after.
alex56
November 16, 2010
I also pick my breasts. it makes me feel horrible. I'm 16 and im so scared im making more and more scars on my body which i will regret. my whole chest area looks absolutely horrible right now. im so ashamed. it scares me that i could do such a thing to myself. my chest is covered with scabs, completely covered. and i still have been managing to find a way to pick and find zits -_- the main reason i pick at my boobs is because it seems like my hair follicles get filled? and turn into black heads. which i repetitively pick at. i really hope to stop.
Want2bfree
November 17, 2010
Hi I'm 32, and yes I used to pick at my breasts also. As I suffered from acne in this area aswell. I will still occasionally squeeze the odd whitehead in this area but nothing like I use to...phew! Unfortunately I have a lot of scars on my chest from picking at the large painful acne that I used to get, although my friends have never noticed the scars, and I've even asked my sister about but she dosen't believe that they are noticeable, but I can't help but feel permanetly damaged.
obsessed picker
November 16, 2010
I was adopted at the age of 1, and as a small child I picked the inside of my mouth, and picked the skin off of my feet till I could barely walk, part of the picking was pulling the skin slowly as far as I could pull it makeing large sores, At the age of 12, I was molested by my adoptive mothers son from her first marriage. him and other men were always interested in my breasts that were large. I never told a sole about the molestation fearing noone would believe me as noone liked me because they felt I was an unwelcome invasion of their family. At school I was 14 and always teased about my breasts being large, depression set in I attempted suicide, didnt want to return to school etc... I eventually was able to get breast reductuion surgery, cuts below the breast, I always felt one was way larger that the other, wasnt happy.I picked at the scabs forming,I pulled slow and long and deep flesh pieces relieved stress building up in me. I am now 47, and have never stopped picking my breasts, and still do it. I have seen a psychiatrist in the past and admitted to it , I was put on anti depressents for depression and anxiety. I am on disability for chronic depression, and no longer like seeking relationships, I am in one, but I dont want to ever meet other men because of shame.
kay
December 10, 2010
uuummm...hello everyone...im kinda new to this soo i dnt really knw wat to say. im recently 16. i began picking at myself since i was 11 and i havnt stopped since ive treid jus about everything i can to stop but its not working. i have this fear that since ive lost a large amount of blood in my breast that i might have to have them amputated..but we'll see..i hope i dnt have to

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