Does anyone pick at the bottom of their feet? My story

Physically our extremities are used to interact with everything we touch. We touch loved objects and people and hated objects and people. But what happens when an event in our life has shocked us so much that it has caused tremors or ripples to reverberate through our memories? It causes our most happiest moments to be sliced with some pain or fear of that shocking event, an event we feel we can't tell the people who most need to hear it. An event that has us feeling guilty and anxious and fearful and has us chastising ourselves in everything we do in order to overcome the intense turmoil inside us. When we touch triggers to our bad memories we pick at ourselves in fear and chastisement in a silent plea for help because we can't vocalize our feelings. Then it spreads and becomes a habit and a need, an addiction. Some of us don't consciously realize how deeply we were hurt by an event until we subconsciously carry out our punishments so all the world can know our shame too. When people ask us, "What have you done to your skin?" We are both fearful and thrilled because it's the question we avoid and lust after at the same time unconsciously. The thing for us to do is to submerge in our memories and find the place that's all blocked up and repressed because that's where the event lies. Then we need to break down the wall and peek inside and finally deal with the consequences. Because I think we are all runners and jumpers and holders and slappers and dancers but it's all contained and we just need to release it. It needs to get out and stay out. That's what I think dermatillomania is and how we need to treat it and it wont just go away with skin creams. You're not the only one who picks her feet because I do to and I for one am tired of not facing facts and keeping my real self inside, a reflection of my thoughts. Because I can speak and act too, we can all speak and act and as soon as we start speaking and acting the faster this is all going to be solved.

i am in very much pain, i dont know what to do! i pick it allllll the time when im trying to relax, i dont like wearing socks to bed. sometimes i put creme on it, i hate the sticky ones,

Hi...I am new too, and I have also picked at my feet. Two years ago I found myself in your exact situation! It was summer, so I was barefoot often, and my heels would get dry and "sharp". It was SO easy to reach down when sitting and start picking at the dry, cracked skin there. I'd get a hold of a very large piece of skin and as I'd try to pull it off it would be so excrutiatingly painful! But, I'd manage to do it anyway! That would leave more areas to dig at and before long I too could NOT walk, always had to have gauze, bandages, lots and lots of neosporin (with pain reducer). How awful it feels....physically and knowing that you want to quit it, you're doing it to yourself, yet you don't know how to stop! I think I remember that I ended up "out of my element" somehow, meaning I was on a weekend trip to a relatives house or something like that where I was out of my comfort picking zone and naturally was on slightly better behavior, and had shoes and socks on for a few consecutive days. During that time, it got the ball rolling for letting my skin heal a bit. I had to just get out of my own head for a bit (probably more of that than physically blocking myself from doing it!) in order to "forget" about my feet. Have you tried soaking your feet? Soak them for a long time, and do it alot. I think epsom salts in the water is supposed to be healing. It should soften any hard edges. I think the bandages and ointment is necessary while you still have raw painful areas. You know, I didn't check your username to figure out if you were male/female so for that I apologize, but I tried cleaning up my toenails and keeping them painted too, despite how horrendous the bottoms and sides of my feet looked! I think it helped me a little by giving me something a little more hopeful to look at! I hope you are able to find ways to take a break from your feet, because I really do know what you are going through!

If you are looking at your feet the part thats under you last small toes on the padding part where I guess corns are...yeah I can tear that up in less that an hour...it will be so sore that walking is unbareable but we all have to walk. Also, I used to play computer games on MSN and would get into a trance and pick at the built up skin on the big toes.

The best way to stop picking your nails is to get a manicure and then put lotion on your cuticles frequently for days. I now put a thick lotion on just my cuticles when I'm about to drive (and I'm only using the palms of my hands to drive). I let the lotion settle in and do not rub it in immediately. I rub in after 5 - 10 minutes and then repeat once or twice daily. I also use a good soaking lotion before bed time. I got a manicure over 1 month ago, and have been able to regrow my cuticles for the first time in a long long time. All 10 nails were in very poor shape and now they look very nice. I have picked since I was a little, little girl. I believe it is due to nerves and stress. I recently reduced my stress level and got the manicure (as a reward for a new job), and I felt very good about myself. I now keep my cuticles moistened with lotion and keep my life managed (as best I can) to reduce the stress levels. Regarding the foot picking, I too pick my feet, the dry crackly skin due to dry weather. Keep the foot pad moistened with lotion. I recently purchased a product at Walmart that specifically targets the dry skin on the feet. It smelled exactly like the lotion used at the salon during a pedicure (same job-rewarding visit). Sometimes I pick and peel so much skin off that my feet hurt to walk. It's embarrassing, but the more I keep my heels in soft, self-manicured shape, the better they are. Lotion, Lotion, Lotion. I'm glad someone else wrote about their picking problem. I thought I was all alone.

I PICK AT THE BOTTOMS OF MY FEET TOO. i am so overwhelmed to have finally found this! i just got brave enough to look this up on google and was shocked to find this website, let alone someone who does this too. i know exactly what you mean about when your feet bleed and you limp around your apartment. i can relate! for so long i thought i was crazy but haven't really accepted it as an issue. i'm younger than you, so my picking hasn't developed as much. i do it about once every week, but when my life is going good i can forget about picking for up to a few moths. never long enough for the scars to disappear though. i can't get over how happy i am to have read this and found someone with the same affliction as me. i think we're a small group, but we do exist and can support each other. i also chew at my fingernails and skin and cuticle. this is where it gets weird... i also eat my skin and scabs. mostly just the skin from my fingers and feet, but scabs too. i think this is just another part of this... syndrome or whatever it is. please write back if you can, i would like to talk with you if you want.

I recently had high blood pressure and the soles of my feet burnt like they were on fire! And then the skin started peeling big time, I shed pounds just from my feet. I discovered PedEgg and it has helped enormously. One foot is good as silk now, though the other one is still pretty bad. I have also tried making a paste of Apple cider and bi carb soda and applying, this to helped.

Hannah Hi jadiegirl! I do the EXACT same thing you do! I use the neosporin, bandaids, ect.... I used to bite my nails and pull the skin around my fingers. I once took a shaving razor to my feet to cut the dry bits of skin sticking up all over. I ended up getting a small but deep and painful cut. It was bleeding like crazy. I'm still struggling with this, so unfortunately I don't have a solution for you. Maybe it would help keeping it bandaged until it grows back. Wear socks a lot. I wear socks though and just take them off to pick. Maybe you could try a stress ball or something to squeeze to keep your hands busy. I feel for you. Good luck!

omg is Jadegirl still there? I am new to this site. and humiliatingly I shred my feet. This is sort of a new area for me. It's getting VERY severe. Im a hairpuller too. I am with you girl. Not sure how to stop. Catch 22. I'm a neosporin addict as a result!

I don't honestly know if this qualifies or not but I do cut off the very thick callouses that form on the ball of my foot. I also have one bunion and on that foot, the callouses get extra this. I dn't dig at the skin itself to bleed, because then I can't walk. I do chop at my toe nails which have always been icky. Icky as in just not feminine, and I've got ugly feet. I envy those normal pretty women who can get mani/pedis. God I've been too embarassed to show me feet, like when I was a kid. I hid them constantly. Then after my 20's I didn't give a rat's ass. That's sort of where I am now, I accept that they are godzilla feet (my husband calls my feet talons of death, when I cut them with clippers I can sometimes get a spark! Isn't that weird, the nails are so hard) and they fly all over the room. I keep my toenails short, mostly because they hurt otherwise. But I don't do much in terms of giving my feet any attention, positive or negative. I don't know if I think if I ignore them, I don't have to be reminded how goofy they look.

Still here, still picking at my feet. It's worse in the summer b/c my feet are often bare. But at least I'm lucky that my area has a support group for people like us who suffer from body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) -- like skin-picking and trichotillomania. Being a part of this group hasn't improved my picking, but it makes me feel better knowing that I'm not alone, and I'm not the worst either.

I'm new here, been a bad picker for as long as I can remember, first my fingers and then a few years ago my feet. Mostly my heels or wherever there is any hard skin. Also my lips and inside of my mouth. I wish I could stop but it kills me not to do it, my fingers and feet bleed. My poor heels are just painful to walk on. I just started a new relationship and am always trying to make sure he never see the bottom of my feet. I tried keeping my nails short and getting blunt false nails to stop me picking but then I just resort to using a blade , knife or anything sharp. It's so bad, wish there was some magic way of making it stop. Anyway that's me and thank goodness I found this site and am not on my own!

Foot picker here. Started as a young child with nail-biting and nose -picking. As I got older I added acne and scalp picking. Now I focus mostly on my cuticles and feet. But my biggest problem is that I consume the products of my picking. I don't ever eat all of the pickings, but always eat some of it. I have a weird question about it though - I am sick a lot less frequently than most people I know. Does anyone think it's possible that consuming all those germs, (because I suspect I get a lot of germs in my mouth), might work as an inoculation for some viruses and bacteria? That it actually makes a person less susceptible to cold and flu and similar things. Has anyone else noticed this or do I just have a naturally strong constitution? Thanks for being here and being honest.

im 19 years old, i just graduated from nursing school. I have no stress in my life at ALL. but i do suffer from social anxiety and take medication for it which really helps..but i have heard that picking your skin is a form of anxiety. i pick the sides of my thumbs, i bite the skin on my lips and also my toes and ball of my foot. its really gross to admit but i do eat it. and its VERY hard to stop! i could be sitting in front of the tv and have socks on and not realize it and take off a sock and pick until it gets very painful. i really wish i could stop but i honestly cant. according to my parents ive picked my skin since i was younger. i guess its just a weird thing i do but i would LOVE to stop! I know that skin has sooooooo many germs and bacteria but that really has no effect on my picking. I want to be able to live a normal teenage life, but i cant go get pedicures because of my feet, and with a new guy in my life i dont ever want to take off my shoes...i feel so weird about it...yet i cant stop! ughhh!

Used to pick at the bottoms of my feet, heels mostly. I also pick around my cuticle area, sometimes getting both areas totally raw. Also used to eat the pickings. Gross to admit, but at least we aren't alone. I can trace the beginnings of my picking to a short time in 7th grade when I was bullied. I am now 54 and only recently am finding relief from this condition. I was so glad to find this site and some of the ideas I read have helped. The first thing I did, about a year ago, was start using a PedEgg foot file. It has been wonderful! I always moisturize afterward and use it virtually everyday. One reason I think it works well is it suplies the 'scratching' mechanism we look for when picking. I think it really helps to 'scratch' the skin in a more productive and healthier way, using a foot file. The second thing I did was to buy several smaller foot files to use on my fingers, along with moisturizing. This has been extremely helpful! Doing the 'scratching' with the file again provides the feeling of picking but in a better way. I also moistuize frequently, I like St Ives Intensive Healing lotion. The third thing that has helped my fingers is having acrylic nails. Sounds weird, I know, but the nails add thickness to the nail edge and it is actually very difficult to pick when you don't have a thin edge on your nails. I hope these comments can help some others who have suffered and to know that we can get better and overcome this weird affliction.

When I started reading all of your comments, I started to tear up. I thought I was a freak and alone in picking at my feet. I do it all the time. Especially since I spend a lot of time in my room. If I can't get the skin off with my nails, I use the little file that comes with my nail clippers. I eat the skin sometimes, but not all the time. My boyfriend caught me one day when I was mindlessly doing it and I was mortified. He was just so surprised and bewildered by it. He started laughing, which hurt my feelings, but he said that was his way of trying to make it okay that he knew. I told him that I've stopped eating the skin but that I still pick and when he's around he tries to help or whatever by telling me to stop when he catching me picking at my feet, but I do it anyway. I also pick at acne that I have. I don't get too much, but when I do and it's on my face for longer than a day or so I endlessly pick at it and sometimes I've resorted to cutting it out which has led to some scarring. Mostly, I use a coarse face wash once a day, that helps make me feel like I've gotten as much of the extra skin off as possible. I've tried foot scrubs for my feet as well as lotion, but if I put lotion on and then socks on over it to try to keep the lotion in, my feet are back to dry within a day anyway. And with the foot scrubbers, it takes so long and I just can't sit making a dusty mess (the mess really bothers me) for hours while I try to get all the dead skin off. Anyway, I'm so glad I decided to google this. It made me feel a lot better just reading everyone's posts :)

i felt compelled to comment on the site, as i sat reading and picking at my foot which is in a terrible state at the moment. I only really started picking about 6months ago but it has become an obssession and is getting worse to the point that it is on my mind all the time that the skin isn't perfect and its like an itch that i can never satisfy, i don't know if that makes sense. It all started when the heels got hard and dirty and i just found it comforting to pick at them. My new boyfriend is constantly having a go at me to try and get me to stop doing it, i'm very embarrassed coz i do it anywhere and everywhere and am very aware of the little bits of skin that i am leaving behind. If i can't pick then i plan to have a shower so that the skin becomes softer and i can rub at it. They don't become infected anymore coz i think they have become so used to being red raw, also can ignore the pain of walking. I'm not really sure what to do, i have other problems such as depression, anxiety and an eating disorder which are taking over my life again but i'm keeping quiet from my support networks because they just tell me off and tell me that they're disappointed and that i'll need to go into supported living which I DO NOT WANT!!!!!! I've rambled on too long! Good luck to everyone and anyone reading!