picking- new to this site

I use spinner rings to keep my fingers busy. Something small to do that I have everywhere. I mostly picked my face because of acne so I started birth control and other hormone things and it all completely cleared up but i still pick everywhere else a lot just less on my face.Whatever mirrors are closest to you and where you primarily pick I cover up. But then again I used to climb on the counter to get close. I also clip my nails VERY often so they are really short and file them down. I got acrylics once because they are fat/less sharp so it was much harder to pick but I'm not exactly a girly girl so never did that again but it was helpful.

hey, i just registered to this site too! i just wanna tell u it is great in a way to see others that have the same feelings about skin picking as i do. I hate it but i cannot stop it so far, i agree with the one comment, fake nails work, taking away the mirrors kinda work too and also getting out of the house and around other people helps bc i never want or do pick infront of them! but im saying this sitting here now after just having spent 15 minutes probably in the bathroom standing in front of the mirror like 3 inches from the mirror popping all the pimples on my face! even if my face WAS clear this morning!! i went into the bathrrom, and went to work finding pores that were only clogged and using my nails... needless to say today and tomorrow i am going to have about 10 -20 red spots on my cheeks. and i hate wearing makeup bc i know it only makes it worse. but tomorrow i actually HAVE TO leave the house.... wish i had never gone in that bathroom!

thanks! i know, today i'm supposed to get dinner with my boyfriend and i'm so embarrassed because my face is a mess! i already picked this morning too, it's so hard to stop. give me your email, maybe we can help each other!

Hello, I am 22, and I have just joined this site too. I found it because I got a massage and the woman said "Dear, my daughter suffers from skinorexia and you might have it too." Until then I didn't know that there was an entirely specific category of OCD called "skinorexia" so I googled it and as it turns out there is a real name: Dermatillomania! Thank goodness because thinking of myself as "skinorexic" just sounded too lighthearted like being a "chocoholic" if you love chocolate. This disease has been a self inflicted plague that I have suffered from since puberty. Although, I have not succeeded in overcoming the Dermatillomania... from my experience I have many helpful tips that I will be posting in my own new forum, please take a look and be in touch with me if you have other ideas to improve my tricks! from your fellow sufferer

I'm a 19 year old girl who has been picking for... probably ten years, if not more. I've been "trying" to stop for 5 years or so, especially since I've gone to college. I'd love a pen pal to email for support with this! Feeling like I'm not the only one is awesome.

I have had a LOT of luck with the amino acid N-acetyl cysteine, which is sometimes sold as N-acetyl L-cysteine, for my 11-year-old daughter who severely picks her skin (arms and legs). I'm hoping that everyone on this group will check it out. We started out at 1200mg each day, 600mg in the morning and 600mg in the evening. Then we worked up to 2400mg, 1200 mg in the morning and 1200 mg in the evening, within about 3 or 4 weeks. The study that was done in 2009 showed the best results were after 9 weeks of continuous treatment with this amino acid, also just known as NAC. We saw great results after 6 weeks. Please consider trying it. I am not a doctor, so please weigh out the risks for yourself. It has truly been a godsend. My daughter used to pick to the point of staph infections. She has scars all over her body. It works by regulating the URGE to pick. You can download the summary text of the 2009 study on this website - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19581567. The study was for hair-pulling, but skin-picking and nail-biting result from similar sets of urges.