Anyone picking near genital area?

yes! for me i think it has a lot to do with pulling out my hair, which leads to ingrown hairs, that i get easier in that area, and ultimately lead to huge sores and whatnot. i pick at my skin all over, but my genital area and underneath my arms definately look FAR worse than anywhere else on my body. its also an easier area for me to pick at, because i can immediately hide what i have just done, and convince myself that i can just keep that part of me hidden until it heals, which of course NEVER heals, becuse i spend hours picking and poking and plucking and scarring my skin. but yes, you are not alone :)

yes, i literally had to have a cyst lanced in my labia once because of it. it sucked. a lot. and was sooooooo embarrassing. i also pick at the ingrown hairs in my bikini area.

I do, it started when I was a teenager, I am 26 now. I have always been a regular picker, scabs, nose, nails, zits... but for some reason I started scratching my anus (ugh i hate to write this) with my underwear when I was under stress. It would be extremely painful if I made it raw enough that if pee ever touched it I would scream so after about a year or two of that I stopped and I started scratching the outside of my labia (vagina). At first I would scratch it with my underwear until it was red and sore because the next day there would be this layer of skin that would start to grow back and I could peel it off like a sunburn. I LOVED peeling off that skin. Now, I've been doing it for so many years I never get that good peel anymore, but I still do it. Its like a habit. If I am really stressed or anxious I just ache to run into the bathroom and I scratch it with my fingers and its just this huge release. It feels so good even if it hurts a lot later. I usually don't scratch it hard enough to form scabs but I do occasionally. I am just so embarrassed and mortified that I do this... I am in a steady relationship and I always try to make sure we have sex in the dark because in the light you can see that it is scar tissue not a regular, pretty vagina :( UGH.

I'm new to this site, but already have taken comfort that I'm so not alone with my issues. I pick the skin on my fingers (left thumb to be specific). Just recently I've started picking and plucking the hairs around my bikini area. I've been getting waxed for years and the trade for being hairless is waxing causes more ingrown hairs. It's just within the last month I've started. After my last wax I noticed an ingrown hair so I excised it...literally. Now I just can't stop. I have a needle and tweezers beside my toilet so I can pick at hair that hasn't even grown up through the skin yet. I'll take the needle and poke or scrape until I can grab that hair. I find myself with my hands in my pants feeling for hair. I love how it feels, but I hate that I can't stop. I have narcolepsy and my medication was recently changed. With that change I've noticed an onset of some other OCD issues I never had before and while I could control the urge to pick my thumb before I can't now. I think this new fixation with my bikini line and my inability to control picking urges can be linked to the medicine. It's Nuvigil. Anyone else know of the onset of OCD with use of this medication?

I have the EXACT same problem! I recently got married, and my husband is so loving and understanding. Sometimes I can stop picking and tweezing at my bikini area(at least to the point of bleeding and scabbing) so that there is little *noticible* scabs and scars, but they are still there, and I have to wear modest bikini bottoms. For our wedding, I stopped for a few weeks (nearly!). But now that I am jobless, and wrecked my car, I feel hopeless and depressed, and that's when I retreat to the picking. My cuticles, skin on my feet, boogers, pimples, eyebrow hair, skin on the scalp, I do it all! It seems like I can stop for a while when I'm not distracted and things are going well, I am travelling, or don't have time or access to tweezers. But then I start again. I have had this problem for as long as I can remember - and it includes genital mutilation as well. I really want to stop and want help, and have tried on my own - to no avail. I will have to check out that Tyra show you guys are talking about! My problem is the same as yours - how do you talk to someone about this shameful, embarrassing behavior? I also smoke, drink, and eat compulsively. I am fit, and excercise, but have had bulimia, and drug problems in the past. I will continue to research and work on this problem, perhaps trying the 12 step proccess would help? My love and support goes out to all of you.

:( sometimes i do it near... and i hate that!

If there is a pimple on my vaginal area...boy am I happy! It's one of my favorite pops. I know it's sick, but it has to do with the fact that I am a chronic smeller. That is, I smell the puss that comes out of any type of pimple. The smell of vaginal pimple puss is quite rank, but I enjoy it immensely. WHY???!!!

ahh! yes =/ the places i pick are mostly hidden, such as the bikini area and vagina.. i dont know exaclty when i started this and i didnt really even notice until i went to the beach one day and my friend pointed out the sores and scabs at the bikini line. that was at the beginning of this past summer, and now whenever i shower or shave i find myself digging at hairs and pimples and bumps down there... its.. i dont know, it is embarassing but i feel good doing it. im just glad im not sexually active, i dont know how id explain the sores, and i dont think id be able to stop to easily

oh my gosh, this is weirdly such a relief to know that there are other people out there! seriously had sort of convinced myself that i was the only one crazy enough to does this stuff. it is sickeningly embarassing. i've never been able to tell anyone about it. any time that i get close enough to a guy to start thinking about sleeping with him i get absolutely terrified of what he'll think once he sees the state of my skin down there. it's ruining my relationships as i'm a commitment-aphobe and keep pushing any guy that gets close to me away. any of the rest of you guys on here have had any success with trying to quit it?

im new to this site and im glad iv found other people like me.i didnt think realize that other people had this problem too.i compulsively pick at my arms and it leaves disgusting scars but i just need to do it.im 19 and have been doing it for 2 years and my grandma just doesnt understand.it kills me becuase she thinks i can just stop on my own. does anybody else feel that way

oh thank God I decided to read through more of the older topics! This is actually the first area that I started picking... mainly because I was a swimmer in middle school and high school and this was the only place that wasn't noticeable (at least thats why I think I picked and scratched and tore at my skin down there). I also remember my mom catching me picking down there at one point (sometime in middle school) and she asked me if it itched. I said no and from that point on I have been a bathroom picker hiding it from everyone. I scratch and pick while I'm asleep and every time I go to the bathroom (sanitary I know...). I have done so much damage to my pubic area (im talking about skin discoloration, constant scabs, white hairs because I have damaged the tissue so much (and im only in my 20s)). As I have gotten older, I have started picking in more areas including anus (ugh...), back, shoulders, chest, nipple, scalp, face, hands (im a rower so I constantly have blisters on my hands that I pick at)... basically you name it ive picked it (with the exception of my legs... not sure why I've left those alone). Last year I had finally had enough so I sought help (having no success so far but hopefully soon). The only thing is I didnt tell my therapist about the genital scratching (she does know that I pick at pubic hairs though). My therapist doesnt seem to know too much about skin picking though and is just treating me as an OCD patient (which I also have other signs of). So maybe I should start looking for someone else??? Random question to all of you other genital pickers... Have you been to a gyno or doctor and shown the area to them? I am terrfied to show my pubic area to anyone (which is why ive never had a true relationship) but I really should go to the gyno since Im at that age now. Plus I've been having a lot of symptoms (serious weight loss (over 15% of body weight without trying), abnormal bowel movements, swollen lymph nodes for several months in head, neck and groin that didnt go away with antibiotics or steroids) which I fear may cancer related (especially since my body is constantly having to repair my skin, it wouldnt be unreasonable for some of those cells to get out of hand and become cancerous), but I am scared to go to the doctor for fear of how they will react... So basically I'm just wondering how the doctor reacted to your situation... Thanks...