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lizayboo22 , 18 Oct 2011

from perfect skin to hideous marks-WHY?

I've been picking my face for six years and I wish that I had never started. I have a light complexion that makes it easy to see the marks that picking creates, my skin gets red, swollen, and puffy. After a few days the redness goes down and the scabs start to form but it takes up to two weeks to fully heal when in the meantime I just want to hide. This addiction causes me to feel extremely self conscious and insecure during the healing process and I get paranoid that my skin won't heal right or that it will scar and look horrible forever. I put vitamin E oil on the scabs which does help but I want a long term solution to stop the problem (picking). HOW DO I STOP FOREVER? I have perfectly clear skin but I can spend five hours in the mirror picking at every little minor bump that isn't even an pimple and then I start to feel like this. CAN YOU HELP ME?
5 Answers
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Pochahontas
November 02, 2011
stoppickingonme.com ~ There's some good tips here. I know it's hard to stop. I'm battling it myself. My skin was BEAUTIFUL before I made imperfections appear where there were none at all. Good luck!
Pochahontas
November 02, 2011
stoppickingonme.com ~ There's some good tips here. I know it's hard to stop. I'm battling it myself. My skin was BEAUTIFUL before I made imperfections appear where there were none at all. Good luck!
kgolden1234567890
November 03, 2011
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.
secretskin
November 03, 2011
That's fascinating about the NAC, I want to do some more research, but if it can help with the urge to pick then that is going to be highly useful for a lot of people. Thanks for sharing your tips.
secretskin
November 03, 2011
lizayboo22, firstly know that you are not alone. Secondly, you've made the first step, recognising that you want to stop. :-) Now you have to dig deep and find a whole lot of will power. I'm starting the 30 day challenge today. The thread on this forum for the 30 day challenge is what inspired me. Join me on my blog, let me know how you are getting on, I post daily. www.secretskinpicker.wordpress.com

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