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

Hey, I'm a guy and a good female friend of mine is a picker. The answer is "yes" I would still kiss her all over :D

I'm so glad I'm not the only one for this particular picking habit. It really is horrible and makes me feel so bad because, as ppl say, when partners touch or see my boobs I feel horribly selfconscious and just guilty and terrible. I feel like new partners will go off me, or if Ive been with someone a while I feel like theyll judge me for all the new scabs etc. My main areas are also face and boobs :/

I'm 19 and have been picking since I was a little kid. when I hit puberty I got acne on my chest. But a lot of it was all in my head unfortunately. So I would pick at little specs that i thought were a growing pimple or a blackhead or something. My chest is now completely scarred with white scars because I guess after repeated picking it took out the pigment. My dermatologist says they are little cysts. Thanks to birth control and some hormone medication all my acne has gone away. Which did wonders for my chest. But about a year ago I started picking around the nipple, I feel like it's such a disgusting habit. My mother used to constantly check my body, mainly to see for infections and saw that I had started to pick around the nipple. I told her that something does come out. Like a pimple. But she told me that it's nothing like a pimple and that I could get a serious infection and that I'm damaging my breasts. I've tried to stop. But the thought of knowing that if something is under the skin and I can pop it out, it must be done. I'm extremely self conscious. I won't wear bathing suits just because I have all these white scars on my chest and I'm both embarrassed and disgusted by myself.

hey girls, whoa - good to learn you all are out there! I'm 26 year old picker from switzerland, in the "business" like so many of you since my early teens. I know pretty much what everyone's talking about, and I'm coming to the conclusion that it's way more then just a bad habit. it's in fact a sickness and it has a name: Dermatillomania. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatillomania) of course, like in all addictional/ compulsive behavios, causes might differ: traumatisms, not coping well with stress or your own body... psychological or neurological (like a lack of dopamine in your brain)... but the main thing in my opinion is you recognize there's something there, and it's nothing to be more ashamed of then any other medical condition. knowing that I have a very low discipline level and I like to give advice I don't follow (no, I'm not over it and still struggling, not ever making it more than 3 days without picking)... I still think we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. like what I just said about discipline: that's feeling sorry for myself because I still think it's a discipline issue and that I'm just too weak to get off it. it's not, and we're not going to help it by changing outside circumstances and making stupid contracts with- and promises to ourselves, to "be strong - stop picking - from now on". that's bullshit because you don't get rid of a condition like that, the only thing it will do is to make you feel worse when you (obvisouly) start picking again - because the underlying causes don't dissapear with a promise. it'll make you feel worse each time you break a contract, worse about yourself, and that'll make you want to pick more... it's an evil circle. so I say: heads up, gals, let's all come out of the closet and talk to a freakin' professional! good luck and success to all of you ;)

I've only figured out there was a name for what I do. When I'm stressed, I pick my face and between my boobs. It has progressed to legs, arms and stomache. I try to keep my hands busy now. For some reason, denim material helps me. When I was a kid, my blanket felt like denim material and when I rub it now, I'm soothed. My sister makes fun of me because I keep a piece of a jean in the car to rub as I drive. If I don't, I pick my face. I've also figured out that if I wear acrylic nails, I don't pick as much. I can't get a hold of the scabs well enough to peel them off or to squeeze the bumps. It's just so expensive to keep up, especially for an unemployed woman. I am glad to see that I am not alone now.

I cant believe that there are actually other people that do the same thing! I seriously thought that i was a psycho. I think that mine started when i was 15 or so and this idiot i was "dating" saw my boobs and i had some black hair growing around my areola. When we broke up he told everyone that i was hairy and started calling me "sasquatch" . I think thats when it started but has only in the last 5 years or so (im 28) it has gotten really bad. Every time i get a chance (on the toilet, in the shower, when im home alone) the first thing i do is pull my shirt and bra up and start in . I search for little black hairs to dig out. Doesnt matter how deep its gotta come out. I have dug craters in myself but feel no pain. I have a panic attack if i cant find the tweezers. I bleed and have to wear bandages. I also squeeze the white bumps on my areolas and get excited (not sexually) when "a good one" comes out. I used to have my nipples pierced and i still have holes on either side of my nipple. If i squeeze really hard white puss stuff will come out . I have no feeling in my nipples anymore. Wow i have never told anyone that before. I am happily married and my husband knows that i pick and is very understanding. I am going to call tomorrow and find a therapist who deals in OCD. I want it to stop!

I'm almost 15, I started picking half way through last year when I was really stressed and things weren't going very well at home. I started picking at my face and arms at the bend in the elbow. It has now spread and I am picking my arms, legs, face, back, shoulders, and breasts. Most of the time they start as pimples and I have the impulse to pop them, I then pick them. A few of my friends are aware of the problem and the only thing they can do to get me to stop is hit me and tell me to stop but I almost immediately start again when their not looking, my teachers are starting to notice and help as well but no matter what anyone does I do it still. It normally happens when I'm stressed, upset or angry. It's good to know I'm not alone

WOW! It's amazing to know there are others that suffer from the same condition. I truly thought it was just me. I'm 26 and have been picking since the age of 14. I don't know what triggered it (I'm guessing the stress of starting high school and the peer pressure of fitting in). I started out picking my shoulders and my chest (especially around the nipples). I was able to veer from picking at my shoulders as much when I became a lifeguard at 16 (the sun really helped dry out any potential bumps, and the tan helped cover any scars ). However, I simply cannot stop picking at the area around my nipples. The rest of my chest is fine. I have the self-control not to pick at any other part of my chest because I want to be able to wear swimsuits and low-cut tops. I have large boobs and have all sorts of confidence when I go out...until I get home and my boyfriend was to get intimate. I've never told him about my picking, and I can only hope he hasn't noticed. I always wear sexy bras with the hopes that he'll want me to leave them on during sex. In college my friends would flash their boobs for free drinks and shots when we were at the bars or on float trips. I, however, always just sat back and pretended to have fun, but on the inside all I could do was think, "What would these people say if they saw my scabby, bumpy nipples?" My friends would always tell me how big and perfect my boobs were and ask me why I wouldn't show them off for the free drinks. I KNOW I shouldn't do it, and I don't WANT to do it, so why can't I stop picking?!? Would it help it I went to a dermatologist? Or is this something psychological that I need to battle internally?