New here--looking for support and ideas!

bandages help to a point. bandage sores to let them heal. bandage anything tempting to pick at. bandages can be concealed under clothing quite effectively but at some point, you will have to come to a point to make a decision to quit making war with your skin and make a commitment to "do no harm", to love your skin and only treat it kindly. i believe that it might take a "hitting bottom" to get to that point to make such a committed effort. i got to that point and have described my feelings in topics in this forum. hopefully my words might help you out and perhaps inspire you to do whatever you can to beat this compulsion now rather than years down the road. it is insidious and will be with you a long time until you reach that point. but it is possible to stop. i am on day 39 now of no picking and i picked for many many years but finally had a scare and said "enough". i got serious. so i know it can be done. my skin has healed all over my body. i never want to go "back there" again. and i'm committed to try to keep from picking one day at a time for the rest of my life. i hope you find inspiration somewhere in this forum or some other site online. all the best to you <3 <3 <3

Hello Bellaelle. I've been digging into my skin since I was so young my house looked like a castle. I don't remember the year precisely. I used to pinch at my arms. When my P.E. teacher took notice and pulled me into the equipment room to examine "my god, wallace, these are staff infections, see? you can tell by the red that looks like spiders?" I stopped picking my arms out of humiliation. Now I pick at my chest and stomach. Only lovers see them. Most don't mention them. I guess they embarrass people on the outside too. I don't know any verified therapies to help you stop picking. But I do know that I'm not picking right now (though I'm dying too, sitting here thinking about it more consciously than I ever had in my life). I came home from the premiere of a friends' movie tonight after thinking about picking the whole drive home. The film dealt with compulsions, so sitting in the theater I began to see my habit. I saw it as real. I've relegated my picking to the realm of things that don't matter, since it's private, but I saw it tonight as significant, paralyzing, and untenable. I think realizing we pick, the absurdity of the reality of that, might help us, the way it helped you when you snapped to with that needle in your face and realized that what you were doing had no place in your concept of normalcy or health. When I got home tonight I decided to research my habit. I write poetry, and songs, and my initial intention was to write about what I know. It didn't dawn on me until I found this sight that I might actually stop. I've been so embarrassed of this problem that I don't mention it to myself, let alone my friends, not even my psychiatrist. Writing about it is helping now. I can't pick as I type. Reading your post helps too. It feels like coming up out of deep water to hear someone describe my own behavior, a behavior that's been silent and that I somehow thought only I engaged in. The only method I can think of to stop is to ask support from others and give it myself. If you think this would help you as well then I'd appreciate any feedback at all, not necessarily advice, just a conversation ABOUT this. If you are, I'm comfortable with the message board or e-mail. Please forgive me for making more a request than answering your question about therapy that has helped us but this suggestion is the best therapy I can think of right now. I admire your confidence and sense of self accountability. I wish you luck.

Hi, Ive just joined and I find your comments STRIKINGLY similar to my experiences of picking. Particularly the following: ' I honestly couldn't step away from the mirror. I had dug such a hole in my cheek yet I was still trying to dig at it with a needle......When my face is clear, I'll go after the tiniest blackhead and make it a huge red sore. I am the problem-not my hormones or my skin composition. ' I cant tell you how much I understand; Ive just done it to myself again. I have a huge sore on my cheek which is going to be tedious to heal and impossible to cover. All because I saw a clogged pore which i wasnt happy with but was invisible to start with!! Why do we do it to ourselves? My reason is that i used to have bad skin so still see that when i look in the mirror, im controlling and a perfectionist. But when I try to 'perfect' myself, I ruin my skin!! We must remember that sometimes there are bigger and more important things in life and we should try to make the best of ourselves as we are (well, in my mad head thats what i think im doing when i pick). My tips so far? Take photos of sores to serve as a reminder and plan a really great event or buy a top which shows off your arms/chest. When ive done this, its the only rest ive had from picking. Hope this helps!!

arms and chest have my my favorite sites for years, and i've found that if i'm wearing clothes that require me to consciously remove them in order to get at that itchy scab, ill "come out of it". a pull-over, fitted, long-sleeve shirt that's tucked in requires enough effort that by the time i've wrestled out of it, i've found the neosporin and can sometimes just put that on and soothe the dryness and itch, then i'll put the clothes back. also, not being able to see the scabs makes it less likely that i'll get obsessed with how bad they look, or need to see just how much it's healed by taking the scab off and looking at the pink rim of scar tissue and comparing it to how it looked yesterday. gads, what circular reasoning one will employ to justify the unjustifiable.