I had no idea...

I have done that exact thing before. You can't allow yourself to stand in the mirror anymore for that length of time. I don't anymore , it is just the first step in doing something to stop from being preoccupied with "bumps". I am in my 40's and started at 21 and it has been a frustrating battle ever since. I think I am winning now though , trying I should say. I still pick from time to time, but I have grown angry at the desire to pick and I am trying what ever I can to break myself of it. I used to try to hide it from everyone but I got sick of hiding. I actually started to feel sorry for my loving boyfriend that never said anything but I could tell that he didn't like how my skin would feel when touching my arms or legs. he would give compliments on how perfect the skin on my back was, in a backless dress. He is a very good-looking guy that women look at and all I can say is that he must really love me to still be hanging out with me and making me feel special. Anyways, let me tell you what I have tried so far with some success. 1.) 2 showers a day( exfoliate once a day in the shower-I use one with fruit-acids) after second shower I put a thick heavy skin cream (coco butter from jar) onto legs and arms (favorite picking spots)I do this after the second shower because I am now home for the night and want to be too greasy to pick now that I have privacy. This is now a habit for me as I made myself do it in spite of wanting to take a quick-pick before I put on the cream. I have to be fast- no dawdling! 2.) I started to read on what to eat for our skin- veggies! Tomatoes-tomatoes garlic, carrots ( I grab a bag while I watch t.v. so I don't pick mindlessly). I noticed after two weeks of doing this, my skin was starting to smooth out. I didn't have any swelling from squeezing the little white bumps and messing with ingrown hairs. my skin was reaping the benefits of the veggies-no squeezes- and all the hydration from the lotions and creams. I put a check mark on the days that I would even check or rub my skin to look for something to pick, because that is how I would start picking. 3.)I did scratch open a mosquito bite and started to mess with it too much so I took neo-sporin and put it on a small band-aid and just kept changing it and it did heal without a big scar. I read that you want wounds to heal slowly to avoid scarring, so covering them with a band aid helps keep a scab from forming. anything that I let scab up has left a scar, it healed from the outside in rather than the inside out. Hope that makes sense! I fell off the proverbial wagon once and I spent along time covering myself with band-aids and neo-sporin! It looked rediculous! So tip #3 band-aids and neo-sporin... 4.) I quit hiding it. This led to a couple uncomfortable outtings but I needed the embarrassment, it added to my motivation. Not everyone is ready to feel that way, I know. We are all different and are motivated by different things, I just wanted to shake myself, so to speak. I even took some pictures after some pretty severe picking sessions and I pull them out of my dresser drawer sometimes just to see how far I've come. This is going to sound really "cheesy" but, I want my guy to have a gal with some nice skin-my skin! Good luck! I hope in my ramblings you can take away some ideas that work for you. I have learned alot from reading these posts. No man is an island after all... we aren't alone.