Stopping for good this time.

hmmm spent 20 mins picking face so it's back to day one tomorrow...

Andrea, Hello All, I am trying to stop picking today is day 1, I am a member of Alcoholics anonymous and have been sober for 6 months which is great but the picking has doubled in intensity since getting off the sauce:( booooo it sucks as you all probably know, I'm presently suffering from my 3rd bout with impetigo, I am on antibiotics but i cant live this way anymore smearing makeup on top of ragged skin and sores. So I am on step 1 and day one today. If anyone would like to know my progress in applying the 12 steps to my skin picking i will be posting every day. Good luck to everyone. Much Love Andrea

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing much better than me - back to day 1 oops. Since we all spend so much time hating our skin (I don't know if you all feel that way but I definitely hate it mentally as well as physically picking) I thought we should spend some time thinking about how amazing our skin is. So here is my amazing fact of the day about skin! ----- The entire outer surface of skin is replaced every 4 weeks! That means there is a completely 'new you' every single month. ----- Pretty amazing I'd say. And that also means our skin will heal dramatically if we can leave it that long! Which for me seems a bit impossible at the moment but if we all take it day by day who knows what will happen :)

Nomorepickingplease-thats v true-very motivational. Thanks for that. Hope every1s getin on ok.

Today has been a disaster. I think I have realised something though - I need to accept that my skin will never be perfect. Even if I stop picking my skin will still have imperfections, and I need to learn not to care! The stupid thing is that the only imperfections anyone else can see is the big red marks I have put there myself... But when I look up close I get so upset, especially because most of the pores on my face are so stretched now that they will always be like that and I did that to them :( I have a few holes as well where I picked to much and they've just turned into scars. And scar tissue on my cheeks. It is so horrible :( buuuut then I think it is only my skin and other people don't see it the same way I do. It shouldn't matter to me so much what it looks like anyway. I feel so bad about myself today I can't believe all the damage I have done over the years. I really let myself pick today - three hours at least. So tomorrow I am starting over again for the 1000th time and I am going to try to like the way my skin looks even though it isn't perfect.

Thank you everyone for your post, just hearing how others are handling this, helps me a lot. I have been picking as long as I can remember. I feel like I have tried everything to stop, especially this past year. I finally admitted to myself and others what I do, I am seeing a therapist, but I don't feel like anything is working. The only thing I can say is that I am more aware my picking, and a little more educated about it. I have been able to stop for short periods of time. About a week is the longest. It helps if I am going to be in a swim suit, or have to wear a backless dress (in addition to my face I pick a lot on my chest and back). I really want to stop but feeling somewhat defeated with this whole thing, and feel like it will always be a part of me. I wish it were something like drugs or alcohol that I could keep away from myself, but it is my own hands. I didn't pick yesterday, so today would be my day 2. Even though I am doing good right now, I have a feeling it won't last long. I am going to try try try so hard to fight it. Night time is always the worst so I need to be aware of that and keep my hands busy.

Hello friends, So today is day 3, I must say I picked a zit on my chest in the middle of the night, :( I've decided I am not going back to day 1 because it wasn't a "spree" . So today is day 3 of my not perfect adherence to no picking. I have these scabs on my face now and I really just want to go at them with a wet washcloth!, shit, I must remember that without exception I ALWAYS make things worse when I touch my face. day 3 here i come

FAIL,,,Shite yeah so i rubbed my scabs with a facecloth until i was bleeding, In my defense I think the one needed to come off, shite, here I am rationalizing, Back to day 1 tomorrow, now that doesn't mean i'm gonna have a heyday now, no more picking today and start fresh tomorrow. Love you guys, thank you for being on this forum.

Today is Day 1 all over again. I picked a bit this morning so am starting from midday. I am off to see a friend for 5 days so probably won't be updating regularly, but please all keep posting! Hopefully staying with my friend will mean I don't have many opportunities to pick... let's see if I can do five whole days! Good luck everybody :)

OK Ladies and gentlemen Day1!! The good news is that the scabs seem to be healing (thanks polysporin) I am reading the book "the power of now" and have been meditating, Honestly I haven't really went at my face in a few days but I picked a spot on my chest so I'm starting on day 1 to keep this legit. Last night was soooooo hard there was a bump on my eyebrow and I was fantasizing about squeezing it big time...but i didn't thank God. Today it is going away on its own!!! yay!

Hello hello, K so I haven't picked at my face at all today!!!yay and i went out with very little makeup on and was able to accept that I have scars and am not perfect, I did pick at some gross cystic zit in the center of my back, but still lots of improvement . Hope evryone else is taking care, p.s i think filing my nails super short has been massive helpful, I just give them a maintenance file every other day now to keep them dull, Much love Andrea

This is super inspiring. I recently 'relapsed' after some super stressfull & traumatic life and family events and am sporting what I have coined my "toxic avenger" forehead. Needless to say, bangs are back :) and I feel like garbage and out of control. I am so glad I found this website. I have finally admitted that this 'coping mechanism' is something I cannot deal with on my own and I need to be honest about it with others who understand (though I have with pdocs & threpists, they dont 'get' the severity of it). So yesterday was my 1st PICKFREE DAY- that alone makes me feel amazing! I took down the bath cabinet mirror. I smashed my handheld magnifying mirror - kinda immature but felt really good because that was my 'problem finder' - and my skincare ritual now focuses on CARE- gentle cleansing, gentle cremes & ointments, bandaging ---which the ritual in itself is hypnotizing. Thanks everyone! Cant wait to not be counting days and just living life again! :)