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Picking My Thumbs
Hello. I am 16 and have been picking the skin around my thumbs my whole life, as well the skin around my other fingers, but, my thumbs are the worst. They are red and raw, and constantly bleeding. I have done it so often, it hardly hurts anymore. I am embarrassed to go to a nail salon, and when my friends offer to do my nails at parties, I hurt their feelings by saying no, and then taking my hands from them. If people notice my torn up thumbs, I lie and say I cut them. I know people notice, and it is awful when i catch them staring at my thumbs. I am interested in becoming an actress, but i know i can never follow my dreams with my fingers torn up like this. I try and stop my self constantly, but i don't have any will power. Occasionally, i will wake up any the wounds on my thumbs and fingers will be partially healed, and i think to myself, this is it, time to stop, but i just reopen the wounds. Most of the time, i barely notice what Im doing until i draw blood or i hurt myself. Please help me stop.
March 31, 2013
Hi, 20 year old male here, I have had the same problem. I used to pick my fingers and lips very often. I used to pick my thumbs all the way down to where it met the joint, it was horrible. My friends called me out on it and asked what happened at P.E. and I had to lie and claim that I burned myself. I have since been able to stop picking everything but my lips, although I only pick of the dry dead skin with my teeth, they don't bleed anymore and it's really more like grooming. I'm not quite sure how I quit but I can give a bit of hope and say that getting out of high school was a huge relief on my life. It made things so much easier. I also spend almost my whole day with friends, and it is very hard to get away with picking in front of friends. I also told my mother to act as a watchdog for when I do it, although that did have only a limited effect it helped my state of mind to know that others were willing to help me. I hope all goes well for you.