new member to this site - pick scabs, pick acne, bite skin off lower lip

Hi everyone, I've been reading through your posts in the forum and am amazed that so many of you are like me. I have been picking scabs as long as I can remember and when I was a kid, I had band-aids all over my arms and legs. Even now, I have the scars on my skin to remind me. It didn't end there, of course. Now I pick pimples/blackheads/whiteheads/etc on my face, neck, chest and back whenever I'm sitting idly on the computer or in front of the TV. I forced myself to get away from picking my back, but instead now I bite my lip and pull the skin off of it. I started biting the skin off my lower lip after I had an accident and had to get stitches on my lip, which made a ball of scar tissue inside my bottom lip. I keep telling myself subconsciously that if I force the skin of my lip to regenerate a bunch, the scar tissue will disappear. Obviously thinking that is just an excuse to keep doing it. I need to stop making excuses!!! I've read about your ideas of banding together as a kind of therapy. I would like to be able to talk to someone who understands what it's like. My parents just tell me "stop picking!" (i wish i could) "You're making scars!" (I know) "You look like a goalie for the U.S. dart team!" (thanks, dad) I don't know if it's hereditary, but I do remember when I was starting to get acne that my mother would pinch pimples for me, especially if they were in a hard-to-reach place like my back. Now that I'm 26 and live on my own, I use bobby-pins to squeeze out acne and occasionally I'll tell myself I need to stop and i'll throw the bobby-pin away, only to find another one and start the whole process over. I had a store-bought blackhead remover, but it would just make my skin get infected. I tell myself that I'd rather have a red self-inflicted squeeze mark than a gross yellow zit or black pore. Does anybody else feel this way about their acne? I have a dermatologist and I tell her the reason my skin is broken out is because I pick it but she just nods and ignores the comment and gives me Clenia and Ziana (who knows if they actually work? I can't commit to using them every day, and of course I pinch stuff that pops up) It'd be great to have a friend that has this problem to email and keep in touch with as a kind of lifeline. I hate myself for doing this and I can stop for a day or so or if I'm not around a mirror and being kept busy, but right when I sit down, that's when the problems start. I keep a bobby-pin around to get the blackheads out around my nose, because there are always blackheads there regardless of whether I pick or not. If I could stop focusing on the pores on my nose, I might be able to keep picking tools out of my hand for good. I think the worst thing that makes me pick is my lighted makeup mirror that illuminates all the marks on my face. Right when I open it up I know I won't be able to resist picking. When I'm away from my house for a weekend and have no time to pick, my face clears up but then I sit down in front of my makeup mirror again and the whole cycle starts over. I'm going to try to not pick for a week by putting my makeup mirror away deep in the back of my clothes closet. I'm going to resist looking at my face in the mirror, as bad as it looks right now from all the picking I've been doing lately. The 21 day thing is too long for me to try yet. I'm going to throw away my bobby pins. Is there anyone else who'd like to try something similar and we can check up on each other via email to see how we're doing? Please email me at woodsywoman84@hotmail.com and we can be in the same boat. --Amy