severe lip picking

I am a recovered lip picker. I have done it for God knows how long, I honestly can't remember. I'm 29 now & have not done it in a few months. I'm committed to never starting up again. When I was around 15 I introduced an infection into my lips & they were horrific, I didn't go to school for a whole week & had to make up a random excuse...but even that wasn't bad enough for me to stop (I mean I stopped while they were infected but once I healed I was back at it). Once I reached adulthood I stopped a couple times but would literally pick one time & be back at it. It was never bad enough that someone who didn't know me would really notice but my husband & mom would comment. I hated the fact that i did it but couldn't figure out how to stop. I would be able to get through a whole work day without touching them but once I got home (especially evenings) it was bad. Once my 2yo started picking at his lips (cuz he saw me doing it) I knew this was serious, I would feel so awful if he started doing it to. The only way I've been able to stop in the past was to be accountable to someone, always my husband. So I told him I was stopping that day & I was accountable to him. That was it. That's all it took oddly enough. I didn't want to let him down so I never did it again & I'm not even tempted. Another thing that worked previously was to have a goal. "If I stop picking for 3 weeks then I'll reward myself with _____". That & accountability has worked for me. I hope to never do it again, as enjoyable as it is in the moment, I always felt like crap when I looked in the mirror before bed. Good luck everyone, you can do it!

I've been picking on my lips for 4 months now, I'm 12 :P And one day I just started touching my lips and pick on them for no apparent reason. Then my lips started to get really bad. And I couldn't stop. So one day my mom cut all my nails, I had a urge to start picking but my nails were too short so I stopped! Everything went a way in about a day or two. But my nails grow fast so I started picking them again, and now since I found that I'm not alone I'm relived. Cutting my nails help me with 2 reasons, for not picking my lips, and for playing the violin. Now I need to go and cut my nails before things gets worst! And I start school next week!! I don't want anyone to see my lips looking weird! It's the first day of Middle School for me! Hope this helped everyone. Cutting your nails will work just fine.

I know how you feel. I pick my lip all the time. I've been doing it since I was a little girl and I'm 40 years old now. I used to pick my face when I was younger as well, but fotunately I stopped doing that, as it was leaving ugly pock marks all over my face. If I knew exactly what caused me to stop picking my face, I would use that same remedy to stop picking at my lip. I have noticed that anytime that I feel uneven skin on my face, my hand goes up to start picking, but perhaps I stop in my tracks for two reasons, 1) its more painful and 2) the pock marks, that it leaves behind, are disgustng. So maybe that is my remedy, but unfortunately, it hasnt helped me to stop picking my lips. I picked my bottom lip so badly the other day, that it was bleeding and swollen. It's still hurts now and its 3 days later. So while the left side of my bottom lip heals, I've moved to picking the right side. SMH.

I had no idea other people do this! I know about the hair pulling and other disorders, but I didn't realize I had one - well, I knew this was not normal, but until googling had no idea others do it! Yesterday I was getting a tire replaced and the urge to pick was so bad, I use my teeth a lot too, I bit at a hard patch until I got it off and, of course... major blood. Just about the time I got it off, I realized the guy behind the counter was watching. I was SO embarrassed. What a nutjob he must be thinking I am. Then it bleeds another 10 minutes and I'm trying to pay for my service while acting like "no biggie". UGH, I have to stop doing this. I can go a few days, but the minute that skin starts coming back, I have to get it off. I bleed almost every time, I pull too deep. I know I'm going too deep, but I do it anyway! I'm 47 and I really don't remember when I started this. I don't think I did this when I was younger. I've had a lot of stress the last 10 years and I'm sure that plays into it. Now that I know I'm not alone, I'm going to tackle this. Glad I found this site!

Ok so for me it began when i was about 8 or 7. i just remember touchin my lips. now im 13 and i remeber my ex always got so mad becasue she saw all the the cuts on my lips. it was only my bottom lip. i still do it alot. i mean i can't stop. but im begging to get control over it. usally when i start to touch my lip i get vazaline so i cant pick my lip. another way is i try not to think aobut it. but when its on my mind i do it alot.

I pick my lips too (I'm 23 and have been doing it since grade school)! Usually in public and around people I try to just bite instead. I also pick at the skin around my fingers. The one thing I found does help is having fake nails. I still pick but they make it so it's less severe. I have anxiety disorder and picking/biting seems to just relax me. I realize I do it when I am more stressed out and tend to notice I hardly do it when I am with my boyfriend. I don't do it to feel pain, and get irritated if it does hurt or bleed and stop. I just want my lips and skin on my fingers to be smooth usually once my lips are smooth I stop. I'll used nail clippers to clean up my fingers and then stop. It's a weird thing to be doing I find my hands get sore from repetitively picking and I am most worried arcarpal tunnel or arthritis in the future. It's like how smokers just addicted to the hand to mouth action and the smoking not just the nicotine. It's something I've done for years and I'm just used to doing.

I had no idea others did this. I've been picking my lips since preschool and I'm 20 now. It drives my mother crazy and she constantly tells me to stop but I can't. I literally pick until they bleed then stop and five minutes later when it's scanned over I pick it again. The only time I stop is when I pick so much I'll cause myself to get a fever blister. I tend to pick the same spot until its too sore to touch. I've tried to stop picking my lips but I've noticed when I do I pick at the skin on my thumbs until they bleed. Its really Embarassing when someone holds my hand. I always wondered if it was a disorder. I just avoid googling it out of embarrassment. Now I know. :(

I'm 22..I've been picking my lips since I can remember. I pick them all the time my entire family especially my mom always tells me to stop or slaps my hand! It gets so bad to the point where ill begin to drull on myself! I don't understand why I do it and where it came from! When I do it in public I get all kind of weird looks...so I try not to! I also bite the insides of my jaws and puck scabs! I can't stand scabs....Ive even tried to pick other peoples scabs! I just feel weird idk!!!

Hey there, I've been picking and ripping up my lips my whole life, every time I decided to stop, I found myself ripping up the flesh around my thumbs and fingers. This has gotten even whorse, since I'm about to move to the U.S. and start med school. I decided I have to stop, but couldn't imagine how. I didn't pick for about two weeks now, and had no urge. I first started using chap stick... A LOT of chap stick. Every time I've had an urge, I've applied a thick amount on my lips. Also, I keep in mind to ALWAYS have something in my hands. It distracts them, it can be anything reay, a pen, a phone, anything. Then it got real bad. I found myself constantly under pressing my urge, which resulted bad head aches. Now, don't laugh, but I found the ideal thing to replace this disgusting disorder: Knitting. You read that right: knitting. I knit hats, scarves, anything. It's easy to learn, distracts and gives you a goal. You should really try it, and if it doesn't work out for you as well as it did for me, don't give up. You'll find something.

I'm also 20 and have been picking my lips forever. I'm just like you, lol, I don't even notice I'm doing it until it stings or I'm bleeding. I was able to stop once for about three weeks, the secret? Fake nails. Honestly, I hate fake nails, I don't like how they look on me and are, more often than not, tacky. But when I had acrylic tips for prom my senior year, I couldn't pick my lips. I even had moments of overwhelming anxiety not being able to, but over time those moments grew further apart. It got to the point where I would touch my lips constantly because I still had the compulsion, but no longer picked at them. I hated the nails so much that when they came off, I didn't replace them, I should have. Try it out for longer than 3 weeks, it's a habit like any other and CAN be broken, it just takes more patience than what I gave it. My friends are the same, always smacking my hand away and telling me to stop, ignore them, they don't understand and cannot help. You can take control of it, but it has to be YOUR decision, don't worry about your boyfriend, you should stop for you :) and you can do it

i am also shocked and relieved i am not the only one doing this. I am 22 and i have been picking/ripping my lips since i was in preschool. My boyfriend gets so frustrated with me doing it and gets angry when he catches me doing it. i cant help myself, espically when they are nice and dry its defentily a habit i cant control. I hate the way they look after i pick them and always go through that many chapsticks and lip balms. My lips will tend to stay unpicked for a few days when they are healed but as soon as they get a little dry i am picking them again sometimes to the point where they are bleeding its defentily not a good look!. I wish i could stop doing it help!

I used to pick at my lips really bad too. it was at its worst when I was smoking crack because my lips were always burnt and peeling. Since I've quit I've been picking at them a lot less, but what really helped me the most was using carmex. I use it constantly to keep my lips mosturized and I've found that as long as they aren't dry I don't feel the need to pick at them.

Wow. holy dam. I just discovered this site. Maaaaaan..... I thought I was the only stupid mofo who did this to my lips. I pick and pick and pick and pick. It bleeds. Blood like that doesn't even bother me. I pick, and I see blood, and I say, Oh blood, and continue I won't lie, I have anxiety, and social anxiety You can tell anxious energy runs through my body when I sit down, I shake my leg a lot, I always gotta be moving I'll watch video on my laptop, and picking my lip is just a natural habit. Where did this come from?? Dam, I'm a hardcore lip picker and nail biter, and finger picker where the hell did these habits come from. It's awesome (well not awesome, but eye-opening) to see that there are many people like me out there, I had no Idea. I wish you all the best of luck on your journey of beating this stupid demon inside ourselves, I bless all of you. I'm 23, I've been doing this for God knows how many years, and I'm freaking tired of it, I'm sick of it. I can't do this anymore. Good for everyone who says they use fake nails, that's great. but sorry, I'm a dude, I can't do that. Some people say, they use lip balm. Lip balm, for me, just makes the skin smoother and easier to pick, and maybe hurt a little less, so that doesn't work for me either. I feel like a freaking artist, like a wood carver, or ice carver or sculpter or some thing. It's an art form for me. I have to make it perfect and I won't stop until it's perfectly all cut. I look down on my phone and sometimes an hour has passed, wasting my life on this bs. I can't do it anymore, I'm fed up, I'm talking right now, you can say you hate it as much as possible, but the next day, you know you're going to do this again. dam, I hate this habit.....no it's not a habit, it's more. this is freaking crazy, and I'm done with it. Well good luck to you all, cause I wouldn't wish this on anyone. As I type this, I got done with picking for the night, my lips are sore, and bloody, and painful. All my nails are way below where they should be. This has to end NOW!!! Once we all finally get over this hill, our lives will improve 1000% Guaranteed, but we must stop! Good luck all! Blessings to you for you all to beat this sh*t!! Cause I know I'm finally ready to beat this thing. This is almost like a coke habit for me, except I don't do coke, i pick my freaking skin.

I don't feel like such a freak now that I know I'm not alone I really want to stop picking at my lip and I really have tried chapstick and candy I do it worse when I'm stressed its like a habit they look bad and sometimes lipstick wont hide it, I'm twenty six,my husband gets aggravated at me and even my six year old tells me to stop, I know how u feel

The way I described it to my husband was: remember when u were a kid and u wud take glue and put it on your hands and let it dry, then peeled it off? It was fun but doesn't have the after affects like lip picking, that's the best way I describe it

I knew that I was not the only person that picks the skin off my lips but I did not know that it was this serious. I have been picking the skin off my lips since I was in the 1st grade. I saw my mother doing it one day and started because she was. I have tried using chapstick to make sure I don't but it doesn't work. My b/f gets mad because he says it makes my lips ugly. Like some of you, he would pull my hands away from my face which would only make me anxious. If you have ever saw a movie with a drug addict feening for their "fix" then you know how I am. That’s how I feel whenever he pulls my hands away from my face. Then I try to sneak and do it without him seeing. Which only works for like a minute or two. I am now 27, so this has been going on for almost 21 years. One of the things that helps me is when I go get my nails done (sorry guys). Because of the thickness of the acrylic, it prevents me from being able to successfully pull the off my lip so I don't do it. However, I am tired of spending money just to keep myself from picking my lips until they bleed, burn and are sore. I am just tired of it but can't stop.