I hate it, but can't stop myself

Hi! I'm slightly younger than you, but our stories are very similar. I've come very close to completely quitting, but stressful events in my life caused "relapses". The key is to get through those events because they're bound to happen in everyone's lives. Some advice I've learned is to try one day at a time. If it's really bad, try one hour at a time and congratulate yourself for every milestone you've made. Before trying to solve the symptoms (picking) try solving the CAUSE. Maybe it's anxiety? OCD? Trauma? Solving the symptoms is usually only temporary, so try and realize WHY you pick............... Another important part in quitting is to get support. Maybe a significant other, parents, sibling, or us- whatever makes you most comfortable. I actually did my best in quitting when I constantly checked this forum, staying in touch with my feelings and struggles................. In fact, I'm going to try to stay active on this site while I try and quit completely again, because staying active on this site seems to be the best treatment for me.......... If you look through other posts on this forum, a lot of people have great advice. From not drinking coffee (in order to reduce anxiety) or having a blog to changing lights in your bathroom to red so you can't see anything to pick.......... But above all, don't get discouraged if you have set backs. This is a tough problem, and it's been present for years. The great thing is that you've beat half the battle by understanding the problem and wanting to stop it. Good luck!

I may only be 14 but I totally get it. Every night I go into the bathroom to get ready for bed and I almost always end up all up close to the mirror destroying my face. It's so irritating!! But I can't help it. As someone said before a big step to stopping is finding the underlying problem and trying to fix that. About two months ago I was diagnosed with OCD and some mild depression. Since then I've been taking some meds and I've been seeing some improvement, but not much. I've managed to stop picking at my fingers but I'm still working on my face. So anyway again, you're not alone and we all understand what you're going through so keep coming here and good luck with not picking!

So...I picked yesterday...nothing extreme, but I did disappoint myself :(. I'm actually on medication for my skin and it still seems to not help. I just wish that I could have normal skin. I wish that in order to feel comfortable around other people I didn't have to wear foundation and clog my pores even more, it's so frustrating! I also feel like I'm too old to be having acne...I mean isn't this a phase you are supposed to pass up during puberty?! I just read everything I typed, seems like just a bunch of complaining, but I guess if I'm forever going to have this skin disorder, I should at least find the best makeup that doesn't increase my chances of breakouts...any suggestions?

I've just discovered this site and what a relief it is to put a name to my problem and know that others feel the same way. I'm a 42 year old woman and have been skin picking on and off since I was a small child. My earliest memory of picking is being about 7 years old and peeling off the skin on my feet to the point of bleeding. I hid this from everyone, including my family, and was so terrified of the potential embarrassment. I later remember dreading that everyone would see my feet when we went to the community pool. The foot picking mostly stopped by my teens, but the face picking began years later. I still do this and absolutely HATE what I do myself. I'll have weeks when my face looks good and I feel great. Then, usually brought on by some stress, I will start picking at blemishes. I also tweeze my eyebrows obsessively. I don't necessarily over-tweeze since my eyebrows look fine, but the random hairs that need to be tweezed - I will work at the tough ones until I make a hole. Then, of course, I keep picking at the scabs, making it all worse. The bad spots burn and then burn more when I use antiseptic/toner to clean it. Even though I know I'm making myself ugly, I keep at it. And I know that what I see in the magnifying mirror, is not what anyone else can see. But like most OCD disorders, controlling the bad behavior is incredibly difficult. I will spend at least an hour picking and tweezing on a bad day, and then another half hour or so trying to cover my scars, scabs and holes with make-up. Of course, it never looks good enough, so if I can't avoid leaving the house, I am stressed about my face the entire time, not able to fully enjoy whatever it is I might be doing. I feel like a slave to the skin on my face - it haunts me day and night. When I have a "good face day" I am happy, confident and feel pretty. My attitude, mood, and entire life are based on how good or bad my face issues are that day. I know how pathetic that is, and how awful it feels, but I still do it. I have had a lot of stress and some trauma in my life (I know, who hasn't?) and I have always had extremely low self-esteem. I am determined to deal with the face-picking by working on myself from the inside-out. I have never shared like this before - it feels therapeutic to get it out! Thanks to everyone for sharing and giving the rest of us the strength and support to deal with our problems and start loving ourselves.

I know everyone on this forum has said the same thing ( I can't believe I'm not the only one who does this. I thought I was totally alone. ) Well I'm going to say it again because that is exactly how it feels. I am a 24 year old Married mother of two precious boys, 3 and 1 years old. And I really am happy. I am slightly over weight which yes does bug me but doesn't ruine my day. I guess maybe I have some stress and yes have been diagnosed with very mild OCD. I have been picking and eating my scabs from ( arms, legs and mainly my scalp) since grade seven. Now I try to look back and see was there a reason that I started picking and eating my scabs? But to be completely honest I can't think of anything. I just don't know why I do it, I just do and it has interfeared with a lot of things in my life now. I married my husband two years ago and had a beautiful wedding dress that because of the scabs and small scars on my arms from the picking I had to wear a lace little jacket thing. I mean it looked nice but I would have rather not of HAD to wear it. Any way I have been going to the Psycologist for a while now and we have tried different things to keep my hands busy. But problem is, your skin is always there with you. It's not just like a pack of smokes or something where if you forget them somewhere you are forced to wait for your cigirette until you get home or buy another pack. As long as no one is looking (so we think) you can pick away. I am constantly running my hands through my hair to feel for scabs or a bump. Even when my husband just runs in to a store down comes the pony tail and I'm right in the mirror looking at the scabs on my head and picking. Well I guess that's enough for now. You really do feel dirty and gross when you say it out loud. But I really am "glad" to know that I am not alone. And appreciate this site for providing a safe place for us to speak about this common problem. ........ Also just a quick thought. I know that men probablly do do this to, but is it just me or does it seem like this is mainly a womans issue? If anyone has an answer as to why, please share. Thanks

This is for everyone - please read the topic titled "40 Day Medical Treatment" I am going to try this and have emailed Fayeh and received a personal email response from him. I have no idea what to expect, but it's free and there's nothing to lose, right? Good luck friends!

So...I just picked and I feel guilty as hell. My face feels swollen in places and I know in the morning I will be regretting this crap for sure! My husband suggested that every time I pick to tell you guys...so I'm going to try that method out. The embarrassment alone should help keep me from doing it...to a point.

Hi! As I've a read on a research paper about skin picking or dermatillomania, I've learned that you can treat it in two ways: through pharmacological and behavioral intervention. I know it's hard to control the urge to skin pick, but you can do more things about it. Just call your doctor and ask for his advice. I hope I have helped you with your question.

I always wondered what the heck is wrong with me and I just finally googled i can't stop picking at my face and way more stuff on this topic came up than I ever expected. I am so glad I am not alone. I happened to read your post and I thought omg that's just like me. I can go all day and think today's going to be the day..I'm so not going to pick, why do I even do that? I can stop. Then, night time come and that seems to be the worst. I go in the bathroom just to take off my makeup and brush my teeth and that's where it all goes downhill. I start looking in the face in the mirror and just picking at any little thing. I sit on the sink counter like you do just picking away. Sometime before I know it, i'll have been doing it for like an hour. It's sooo frustrating I always so disappointed and hate myself after I do it. I really never even had bad skin or acne. Actually, I probably would have had really beautiful skin if I hadn't started this crap. I think I started doing it when I was around 10 and I am now 20. I am so upset to because I finally starting to see the terrible effects it's had on my skin. Fine lines, scars, tiny broken blood vessels around my nose. I cover of it up with makeup, but it saddens me to know I'll never be able to go anywhere without makeup and feel good about myself. Anyway, I had intended not to make this so long. I really tried to keep it short, but it's just so nice to have other people on here going through the same thing to share this with. Tomorrow is Monday...so I figured it would be a good time to set a goal of no picking for a week for myself....We'll see how it goes.

Gosh, I totally understand... I'm 15 and half years old and I am an awful skin picker... I sometimes sit in front of the mirror and attack my face... I attack the smallest little blemish that would go away on it's own if I didn't pick... I will have my amazing week of flawless skin and something happens where it's destroyed and my face is red with scabs and is just pure ugly... I also have the worst habit of peeling scabs off too early and then I'm left with raw skin and I cry because I know if I would've left it for a day or so, it would've healed up fine. I confine myself in my room too ashamed to go out because of how my face is. My skin isn't even that bad and I know I'm fairly attractive, but I don't feel thy way at all. I feel ugly... And it's awful to know that I can't go out in public without my makeup on... I know my skin will heal and everything will end up being okay, but dealing with it for the time being is beyond awful.. I stress and have anxiety of how my face will look in the morning and how I will deal with it until it heals.. It's such an awful feeling to live with... It's amazing to know others are dealing with similar situations.. People. Try to vent to see me as pathetic and just don't understand what bad skin is and how it can affect someone emotionally.. Thanks for reading this, if you are..