Cuticle picking problem

I've been picking my cuticles ever since I was a young girl and I always wanted to have nice looking nails but I can't because of my cuticles. I was told that bad cuticles interferes with the nail growth also. I pick them to the point where they bleed. I am 57 y.o. and I had to get braces on my teeth and now that I can't bite my cuticles I still find objects to pick at them. Does anyone know of a good cream, oil, etc. that I could use. I notices I pick them most during the change of season.

W.O.W. I had no idea other people suffered from this!!!! I just found this site and went yesterday for a manicure. I've kept my acrylic nails on for years to combat picking my cuticles until they bleed. I don't even realize I'm doing it when I have nails off. I just found out that I have to take them off for a few months because my nails/cuticles are in such bad shape after years of acrylics. I'm very nervous about not having my acrylic nails on because I will probably start to pick my cuticles again. I usually pick my cuticles until they bleed when I'm nervous or stressed. :(

Your right it is a habbit. I've been picking at my fingers for many many years now, and for the longest time I thought I was alone. It gets worse in ttimes of stress and hardship. I also like to bite at the loose skin that I have picked, am I weird or are there more people outa on the world just like me? Huh?

my name is rebecca, im 18 years old. and ive been picking since i was about 5. i have also tried to put fake nails on and it was alot harder to pick.. but one theyre off my fingers are picked down to the muscle. raw. its embarrasing and i hate it. after i shower or wash my hands they bleed really badly. and when i sleep..... well i shred my fingers. idk how it happens. i always wake up with bloody fingers. and ive been trying to stop my disorder for years. someone please help me :(

I'm 20 and I've been picking my cuticles for as long as I can remember but I think its been getting worse. My thumbnails are really weirdly ridged and awful looking from it. I've gotten good at hiding my hands but whenever someone notices they're revolted by it. My boyfriend only properly looked at my hands the other day and his reaction really upset me. I've tried so hard to stop but it's impossible. Even if I make it two or three weeks without picking I can't keep it up. I don't notice myself starting but once I've started I can't stop. My nails are so messed up now that I sometimes can't even pull the skin with my hands and I've started using tweezers or unbending hairpins to pick and pull bits or skin off. It's just so gross but I can't stop. I get a real physical feeling of anxiety if I leave any pieces of skin at all sticking out so it's pretty much an unbreakable cycle.

I first started picking dry skin on my lips when I was in elementary school. I stopped for a while, but started doing it again recently. If I have dry skin, I remove it. I pick at my cuticles and sometimes they turn red. I also have a drying condition on 1 foot where my skin drys off and I peel it off. I apply lotions because I am diabetic and my feet need to be taken care of. When I was a child and had sunburn, I enjoyed peeling the skin off. I don't know if this is a fetish, but I have a problem and want it to stop!

Male, 34, started with my right hand ring finger about 18 years ago. When I was about 23 a girlfriend noticed my one finger and urged me to stop. A few years later that finger was still bad if not worse and my thumb had the same problem. Now both thumbs and that fingers are very pistachio or washboard or whatever u call it. I pick the cuticles on all my fingers, but only 3 are really affected. It's likely because I go at those ones a little harder and damage the base. I'm not really a biter, I use objects. At home it's usually the cuticle clipper, and I think this helps to reduce the aggressive attacks. The problem is when I'm lost in thought at work, which is often, I don't even realize that I've picked up some objects and started to did. The worst of the objects are tacs, as I will go at the cuticle from the top and try to slice anything that's rough or uneven or just looks like a juicy piece of cuticle. Other times I will use scissors, and when desperate without an object I'll use whatever including a folder piece of thick paper. So many have suggested the bad tasting nail polish, which obviously won't help if I don't actually put my fingers in my mouth. After I have scarred up my nails or they grow out with ridges, they collect a little dirt which discolors them, so that they are a little yellow and almost look like they are a little fungal but are not. I'm a solutions man, I've solved my watch allergy problem and a few others but this one has escaped me since my early 20's. In order to lessen the appearance of bumpy discoloured nails I've used a filing technique to the surface of the nail. It works great as a temporary solution for a few days. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, as the nail gets soft in the shower, and I get a divot in the middle of my nail, which becomes discoloured with dirt and looks really bad. I am willing to try anything. Can Men go and get Acrylic nails cut short to look like a Man's nail? Bandaids help a bit, but they need to be replaced every few hours, and I hate the sweaty smell that appears in just a day of wearing a bandaid. If it wasn't for this I would wear them all the time, but they are just not practical, and really don't stay on the thumb well. Also, the bandaid will keep the skin soft, as soon as I take it off, it's so primed for picking I often can't help myself. I've never considered myself to have real anxiety or real ocd, but maybe this is the case. I guess I'm posting all this to see if anyone has any ideas for a solution to any of these problems. Or just answer how men go and get acrylic nails?

I picked my cuticles for years and, after researching the disorder for a psychology class, found out that behavior modification is an effective treatment for some people. It worked for me, so I wrote a how-to article about it. If you would like to read it, it's posted at: http://www.ehow.com/how_7975725_stop-picking-cuticles.html It did take me several attempts over a few years and a couple of times of "falling off the wagon," so don't give up!

Just to be like everybody else I too am glad that I'm not alone. I'm only 18 and I have this problem. I've tried to have a good think about what could be the underlying issue that causes me to pick but nothing ever comes to mind. I find around exam time they get really bad and in times of stress or sadness. My cuticles are red raw, covered in scabs, painful and I've started to pick into my actual finger pad too. I also found that acrylic nails stopped me from picking but as I play netball, every winter I have to have short nails. All my friends think I'm weird because I do this and I'm so embarrassed about how my hands look. Sometimes I hide them in a long jumper so no one can see them

I just came across this post and, like others that have posted, it makes me feel relieved to know there are others like me out there. My brothers and I all have skin picking issues. One brother is obsessed with pimples and scabs on his face, the other brother and myself pick at our hands. I've been picking for most of my life. Recently, my husband has noticed how often I pick at the skin around my nails and has become irritated by it. He keeps telling me that I should just not do it. I tell him that most of the time I have no idea I'm even picking. It's definitely a coping mechanism for me. I pick when I'm stressed, nervous, or bored. While I pick at all of my fingers, I pick two the most. They look really bad now. My right ring finger and left middle finger are both swollen and scaly. When I have the time, I file them down but this just seems to make it worse. It causes inflammation, which makes me what to pick even more. It makes me sick that I do this and I have cried on several occasions out of frustration. I sure wish I would have stopped a long time ago because now I feel like I'm stuck with these gross, self-inflicted wounds forever.