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does anyone pick their thumbs?
I am nearly in my thirties, and for as long as I can remember, I have been picking the skin off my fingers. ESPECIALLY my thumbs, along the sides. I know of 1 person who has this issue, but we've never talked about it. I'm shamed.
Is there anyone out there that suffers the same specific problem? I'm sick of looking down at my hands and thinking, "wow, I really did a number on my thumbs today, people must notice" And then I procede to give them maybe half a day of healing before I just start all over again, and re-open the same wounds.
I'm afraid that my skin on my thumbs will never be the same. The scarring is so ugly, the skin is a bright red compared to the rest of my fingers.
I can't even begin to describe the inner agony I go through everyday. The soreness. It's painful, and embarassing.
What's worse is that I'm getting married next year, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to fix this before then. I don't want to be looking at my red, raw thumbs in my wedding photos for the rest of my life....
Hi! I'm new to the site also. Glad to find you all!! I'm 65 and have been shredding my fingers but mostly thumbs all my life. I used my index finger and pick my thumbs. Unconsciously for the most part. Other times I make the decision to pick. Once really pushed my shrink about it, probably 5 years ago and was told he couldn't find any info about it. So now I have a word! A name to call it, somehow that and all of you make me feel better. I use bandaids on my fingers - both stops the bleeding and stops the picking for a few days. Thanks for being here!
I can't believe how many people have the same problem I have never met anyone else and it makes me feel so pathetic and alone. I'm 19 and I think I started because I used to bite my nails since a very young age and got a lot of pressure from family to stop, so I think I just substituted nail biting for picking the skin on my thumbs which is even worse! I'm constantly insecure about meeting anyone because I haven't told anyone not even family (although they have probably noticed as my thumbs are red raw). I have a never ending supply of plasters in my room which I put on before leaving the house. I'm too scared to let anyone become too close to me, especially boys incase they want to hold hands and might notice and ask questions. I'm scared because I don't have the answers as to why I do it! I really need advice on how to stop for good even though it's definitely going to scar at this point I can't deal with the paranoia anymore.
So let me explain what holds the nail down. SKIN. what happens when you remove comfortable SKIN...it bleeds, trauma, it forms a harder than usual skin over trauma while the traumatised SKIN underneath can heal under the scabs protection. The SKIN on your nail bed is very soft that's why the little dead SKIN feels thinner than a usual scab. Meaning it is a delicate area! If you keep removing the scab it will grow thicker and harder and the SKIN would have never fully developed around the nail bed to hold the nail in place which leads to debris lodging even farther underneath the loose nail and infection and it will never be the same "snug" nail. You must let it heal naturally, hide all tweezers and use SAVLON cream ( my lifesaver,) also my trick, i always keep an ELASTIC BAND around my wrist and the instant i I find myself picking i SNAP! It really hard and throw my utensils/stationary evil pryers. Let your SKIN heal and it won't want to come off anymore, rationally.
67 years here... picking hangnails for so long I can’t remember. I do remember as a child, my grandmother promised me a nail care kit in white leather if I stopped... never got that kit. In the last 10 yrs, it has Concentrated on my thumb knuckles. I wear special fabric bandages on them with really strong glue but, as someone else said - I picked off the bandages to pick again... I pick until I bleed continually. My index fingers have developed Arthritis from picking the thumb on the same hand... I’ve found if I have fake nails - they are sharp enough to catch those little pieces of skin that drive me crazy. I’m taking Remeron for bipolar and norco for 2 failed cervical fusions. I am told there is one medication that treats this skin picking but it negates opioids. So pain in my neck or pain in my brain & fingers... not a choice I know how to make.
Oh and I just read a reply to someone lecturing them on what the skin does and why it’s so bad to pick. Then praying for them... To that person I say - IF I COULD QUIT I WOULD. I quit cigarettes (15 yrs) and alcohol (40 yrs) so believe me when I tell you - I WOULD IF I COULD - so would the person you replied to. Don’t lecture anyone with mental/physical problems unless you do have experienced the same.
Yes, I have been doing this for year and years.
I have the same EXACT and I mean EXACT problem it even begins to look my thumbnail is crooked from picking one side repeatedly and the skin is extremely hard, I’ve even had a infection from germs it was extremely painful in my hand