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porta , 08 Jul 2010

NEWBIE- Looking for varuous advice incl. scalp picking treatment

I'm brand new here, but realize I've had skin picking issue for years now. As I type, my scalp feels sore (this is my latest area of concentration). It's horrible and I really need a hair cut, too, but I'm too embarrassed to go see my stylist right now. Does anyone have a tip for scalp treatments? I tried getting some neosporin in there but it's difficult with my hair in the way. I used to have some Neutrogena T-Sal shampoo around for my daughter's cradle cap, but I wonder if that would help heal my scalp skin. Anyone have any advice on this? What about scarring, too? My back is a mess. I still have a couple areas there that are raw and open sored but because I have migrated to my scalp, my back is starting to heal some, but I go thru neosporin like mad to attempt to heal it! The scars are bad, though. Scargel's are really expensive. Has anyone had any luck with Skin Bleaching type products like Porcelana? I know those are meant more for darker skin (I'm fair) with blotches, but I wonder if it would work for the skin picking discoloration scars I have on my upper back. Any advice would be great! I'm going to try to tackle this problem head on now that I know what is "wrong" w/ me. I suffer from depression and am on Zoloft already (have been for years) but my skin picking has not been helped by this so it looks like I'll need to find a good behavioral modification type program. My psych. doesn't even know about this!
2 Answers
Jesica
July 09, 2010
go to your doc...not a dermatologist.....skin picking is more than likely an OCD thing for you..I just came out..and my doc put me on some meds....probably won't be in full effect until abouty a month..but I do notice a difference of not picking so much.... also..proactive has a bleaching cream..you might want to check into that...I haven't used it yet...but I bought proactive for my arms that I pick.....if your back is really bad or your head..you might need some antibiotics to help you get going..but you can only do that through your doc...I totally understand about going through tubes and tubes of neosporin. I've been sooooo there! It could be that maybe you have a form of athletes foot on your head...and the picking just makes it worse..that happend to me years ago and it takes a while for it to go away...especially if you are a picker...I remember my doc gave me meds for it and antibitotics..I also used the Tsal shampoo and sometimes dandruff shampoo. I remember not wanting to get hair cut because of what was on my head. Good luck.
porta
July 09, 2010

In reply to by Jesica

Thanks. I do use ProActiv on my face. That is an area I'm very good at not picking at, though I'm not perfect-there have been times. I may look into their bleaching solution. If this is an OCD behavior, I must say that I do not have any other OCD type problems. I'm only first looking into this as a disorder now. I just thought it was a very secret quirk of mine, but I'm tired of it and want to stop so, of course, I googled skin picking, and lo and behold I'm not alone! Not that I really thought I was. There is a disorder label for everything these days, but something like this has a level of secrecy and embarrassment so I'm glad to find others out there willing to chat about it.

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