What can I do to stop picking at my skin

i have picked since before i can remember so i know how hard it is to stop such an ingrained habit. recently i went on a trip overseas and i found that the change in routine helped me stop. it seemed like staying distracted was a big help. if you can manage to abstain for even a few days before you pick again this is good! every day helps and can help boost your confidence. each time you try to stop say to your self " i stopped for this many days, this time i know i can stop longer". distract your self, learn your habits and figure out when and why you have picking episodes then learn to avoid situations that make you want to pick. it is very hard but you will be rewarded with clearer skin. moisturize daily for kp or another disorder. i have kp and bumps drive me crazy! dont touch! avoid situations! clasp your hands, wring them til they are tired! draw! your hands need to be kept occupied! i stopped for five months once. it is hard to stop but you can do it.

If anyone here is interested still I just started a new thread with a specific list of what I do to help (but unfortunately not stop) my picking. I thought it would be a good place to list ideas rather than talk about how it is affecting us (which is important but not the point of this thread). like other posts on this forum its a big chunk of text so apologies for that..! http://www.skinpick.com/node/2168

Guys I am so glad I found this. I have been picking for 6 years now and im 22 years old. For years I would pick my face so bad I would hibernate in my room and turn my phone off and lost a lot of friends because of it . It got worse and worse and I tried every product, every strategy , hypnosis, anti biotics, every topical cream. Nothing worked be used my picking is the demon that haunts me every day. I cleared it for about 3 months and my skin was looking great with only some scarring, could finally take off my shirt in summer and wear cut offs and wife beaters( for years I only wore long sleeve shirts because I picked all over my arms. It gets bettr then it gets worse. I try to make charts and tell myself COME ON DON'T PICK LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! And I still can't fight the urge. I can't stop. The worst part is what is a little bump on my skin turns into a huge mark and scar. It's easy to destroy, yet really hard to fix. Seconds to destroy, months and months to heal. I have scars all Over my body(chest is brutal because I can't stop picking it) also I am a bodybuilder and I wish to compete but I can't because of my skin. It's ruInging my life . My back and face are clear now thank god, but my chest and shoulders and a little on arms are a mess. I hope we can get through this. I want my old life back when I never even thought about skin. IT'S JUST SKIN!!! People are dying of cancer and I'm fuckin picking my skin, I'm so ashamed.

I'm here for you. I need help to stop to.

Hi guys. Wow. I never thought there were so many that struggled in the same way that I do... I'm a 16 year old who's picked since she was 10. I started as a scalp picker and then moved onto my arms, chest, and back. I use it to 'punish' myself and will continue til I start to bleed. Only just recently have I been able to wear my hair up or wear tank tops. I really dedicate that victory to God who's helped me to battle this. I know that I have a long way to go for all my scars to heal but It's definitely somewhat of a comfort to hear I'm not alone in picking. God bless.

Hello everyone I just found this site. I've picking for a long time now. I am 30 and ready to stop. I notice I do it when I am stress or have a lot on my mind. I know its a learn behavior but I need to unlearn it :) Any suggestions of how to go about stopping?

Sitting here reading all these comments I cant help, but to just break down in tears. All I want to do is vent to someone about the way I feel, but it's so hard to do that when I feel there is no one in my life who truly understands what I go through on a day to day basis. I have not left my apartment in 5 days because I picked me face. I turn a small, unnoticeable zit into a scab that stays on my face for weeks. I'm ashamed, embarrassed, but most of all disgusted with myself. I don't understand why I do this. I'm 21 and this has been going on since I was 19, not consistently but often enough where I can't even stand to see my reflection. Thank god for my boyfriend who has been the so supportive. I don't know what I would do without him. When I go into the bathroom to examine my face he'll always yell "what are you doing in there"? knowing exactly what I'm doing, but at the end of the day it still isnt enough. I have figured that i probably go into the bathroom 30 times a day, praying that the redness has gone down or the skin magically grew back. I NEED HELP. I can't live my life like this anymore. I'm so young and have so much to live for but this burden is holding my back. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE someone help me.

I would say that I found this site by accident but that would not be true. I found this site when I was looking for information about skin picking. I began picking my skin three years ago. I Did not realize that my behavior was destructive and it became more and more gratifying . After I read many of these comments And lurking outside this site for quite sometime I thought very long and hard at what my life became because of skin picking. I thought long and hard about adding my name to this site as I realized that many many of you have horrible serious injuries to your skin your body and that my issues were certainly not as serious as some of these I've read about. I have, with help, beat this disorder but I have to stay vigilant. The way I can do that is to offer help if I can and at the same time be reminded that I don't want to go back there again. The fact that we are all looking for answers and have made comments on this site is a sign that we've taken the first step... which is to recognize and admit there is a problem. some of you may disagree with me but it is my experience r that Dermotillamania is a symptom of a greater disorder or problem or underlying issue. Bear with me as I tell my story. Three years ago I was in a severe car crash. I developed massive infection from the surgeries. During the recovery. I lost mom business. I lost my house. My mom became terminally ill and I lost her also. One year to the day that I suffered the car crash I was attempting to celebrate a partial recovery here at home and I did a stupid thing .I stood on a chair to reach for some pasta and literally fell over into a huge pot ofboiling water. As i fell the back of my neck hit the oven door. My face and body were spared but I suffered second and third degree burns on both arms. I spent the next four months going back and forth to a burn center for surgeries. And while this story sounds like something that someone might make up for a movie or book one year to the day of my burn accident I was moving some things in my kitchen. I I dropped a tray of glasses. The glasses were broken jagged. I slipped on the spilled liquid andI fell on top of them. My face was not Injured but left arm was severely cut. I am left handed. II am sharing this for a reason . After having survived all of that... after having survived the surgeries..endured. the depression...the helples feeling being in leg and arm casts..being connected to I've for weeks,. Enduring pain like i have never Experienced...I was stopped in my tracks...so paralyzed that I could live a normal productive quality life...By a destructive obsessive behavior. I know the exact date and time that I started picking at my skin on my chin. I was sitting in the middle of the floor of my business waiting for the movers to come get of my belongings to storage. I was also packing at home with limited physical ability that I had at that time to move out of our home of 30 years. While I sat there I rubbed my chin and felt a little bump ...nothing significant. AsI began to rub the area and pick the skin I actually zoned out for a little while. It felt good. My mind went somewhere else and for the first time in months I was not anxious. . As I began to wrestle with more rehabilitation I also wrestled with tremendous guilt. I blamed myself for the loss of on home. I blamed myself for the loss of the business. I blamed myself for not being able to be with my mother as much as I wanted to be .I. Blamed myself for gaining weight after my injuries. blamed myself for everything wrong that happened in my life at that time. I am going to say something here that I don't readily share with others. Two times during that time. We were without power and water and sometimes there was just not enough food. My husband never once opened his mouth in complaint. He worked and worked very hard and tried to take care of me. He never blamed me for one thing that happened. He was steadfast and hopeful. I began to feel more and more guilty that I had brought this upoOn him. I Began to escape these feelings by picking like.mad. It took me away from guilt and shame. He noticed my picking behavior. There were days when I would go to bed with just medium-sized areas on my chin and when he saw me the next morning I wouldo have literally clawed the skin until all skin was gone. When picking was at its worst he expressed concern about my behavior. During a really bad episode of picking I decided to video myself. I had looked around at my house and I was amazed and ashamed at the time I had lost that I can never get back by engaging in misbehavior him that I had a problem and I needed help. The video absolutely horrified and disgusted me. I did not realize until watching myself what I had done to myself. I saw , as if another person were across the room looking at me picking and clawing How ironic that a behavior so destructive could feel so good. I found I did not have to think about what had happened in the past or my feelings of guilt or shame or anxiety. As long as I was engaged in misbehavior I was in another zone...on another plane. I was simply stunned at the lack of production that had taken place in my new home. I made an appointment with my GP hit is just a wonderful young woman, very sharp,very knowledgeable. She was also very tough. Without going into all of the issues my GP diagnosed me as having post dramatic stress anxiety of course and Depression. I went through habit reversal training some cognitive therapy and my doctor used SSRISt to help with the anxiety and the depression and the obsessive-compulsive behavior. I am a very strong person but this disorder completely debilitated me. Having been a master teacher and a business owner I like to think that I am an intelligent person but this disorder had me confused. II would have liketo think that at 58 years of age I would have known better than to do this to myself but this disorder affects all ages . I like to think I'm an independent person but this disorder showed me that I could not get through this alone. I had minor surgery to repair the damage that had been done to my chin.. My skin has healed. I have replace the skin picking with productive needed projects. When the urge to pick comes over me I look at the phone video. The urge quickly goes away. Having shared the part of the story regarding getting outside help I would like to address an issue Brought up on this site. many people on this site and else where cannot afford outside help from professionals. I was fortunate enough to have health insurance. I was fortunate enough to have resources. It is easy for me to give others the steps for getting outside help but it's hard when they do not have the resources. I would like to suggest to the owners of the site that they put links to free resources and free medical help free psychological help out there for those who need it. Not having money or insurance to pay for services is itself a cause of more severe stress. In closing this comment I would encourage you to talk to someone who can give you support can be there for you guiding you through the recovery process. This is a real, debilitating disorder. To any young person out there who is suffering from this disorder whose parents might tend to believe they are faking I would say to the parents if you have even the idea that your youngster is faking something this serious then that is a red flag that there is a problem Whether the problem is dermatillamania or a problem between parent and child should be taken to a professional. The general rule for symptoms of a problem is to ask the question... is my or her or his behavior affecting my or his or her ability to function normally. At 58 I guess I may have a very limited amount of time to live on this earth. I don't want to waste another minute and I encourage you to please get outside help. This site and your stories was the.beginning of my healing. I hope this.comment helps someone. God. Bless.5   Burial: Plum Branch Cemetery Plum Branch McCormick County South Carolina, USA   Created by: Ann Record added: Oct 01, 2010 Find A Grave Memorial# 59460283

Hi everyone, I'm 19 and have been picking since I was 12. It started just a little on my arms and then my shoulders, and then anywhere on my upper body that looked like it could be picked. I use cover up and can avoid picking usually in public, but every time I'm alone I just start picking at little spots in my skin. I'm finally comfortable with my body, but not with my skin. I've been seeing a therapist for a year and a half and we keep trying to get to the source but nothing seems to work. Today she told me that I might have OCD and that this could be a symptom of it. She wants me to talk to my doctor about taking medication for it and see if that helps, but I'm worried that I'll start taking it and that won't be the case. I'm ashamed of my back, my arms, my shoulders, and my chest. My face is usually pretty clear but it's getting harder and harder to cover my marks, and I'm getting more and more scars. I really want to zone in on whats wrong, but don't know what to do or how to figure it out. Do any of you have any advice? Also, there's a guy I like who I might get physical with soon. How do I explain what the spots are? Thanks!

Hi I stumbled upon this page whilst looking for an explanation to the scabs I have had on my arms since I was 5 or 6 (then later on my face and back and occasionally on my chest). I am now 26 and have been to see 3 (rubbish) doctors over the 20 odd year period. When I was taken by my mother as a child I was told that "I had sweet blood and the marks on my arms were gnat bites!!!!! I can assure you there not as I get them all year round and after believing this for many years I avoided going anywhere where I may get bitten. I then went to a doctor who assured me they weren’t bites but I was on my own to get rid of them as he didn’t know what it was. The third doctor told me it was my own fault as I picked and prescribed me "something to stop me picking!" brilliant i thought until I discovered it was E45 cream!!!! (Like I haven’t tried every over the counter cream available in the last 20 years. If your like me you feel ugly and embarrassed and when you met people for the first time and they ask you that question"whats that on your arms??" and you know what they really mean "whats that can I catch it?" and I don’t know if anyone else feels the absolute DREAD of summer coming and the whole "why you wearing a cardigan in this weather!" Over the years I have had a mixture of friends, family, work colleagues who have given me a diagnosis (cuz everybody's an expert) according to a few there caused by chocolate, washing powder, coke and at that point I tell them that I'm allergic to the bullshit there telling me and that what causes them (seriously if you didn’t go to medical school or haven’t experienced it don’t start a sentence with "I think it could be...." I have sort of come to terms with it now I hate it and there are some days that I could cry because the guilt and embarrassment is just too much but it makes me.. well me and if people don’t like or love me with them then they will never get the opportunity if I ever do get rid of these bloody stupid scabs!!! I’ve had a few boyfriends and all I can say is for the majority I have just been honest and to be fair it’s never been an issue in the relationship. Cheer up peeps we may have ugly skin but were all bloody stunners inside (lol) ")

I don't know what it is but I am constantly picking at my face or ny shoulders or my chest or knuckles or my nails. I do it without noticing and it is tearing my skin apart. My knuckles are callised and I barely have any akin around my fingernails any more. My shoulders have scars all over them from me constantly picking. :( any help??;

Reading these stories make me feel not quite as alone. I grew up with OCD. Over the years, my obsessions have changed from control issues, germ fears, rituals, you name it, there was probably a period of time that I went through it. At the age of 35, I still struggle with addictive behaviors, mainly medications and skin picking. The skin picking started about 7 years ago. I had a bad sunburn while on vacation. Once it healed, and began peeling, I noticed how much I enjoyed pulling the peeling skin off. Once healed, this behavior turned to picking at clogged pore, black and white heads on my face, arms, shoulders, back, pretty much anywhere I can find them. On my face, I get caught in a terrible cycle. I pick until it bleeds, allow it to scab, remove the scab to hide what I have done and try to cover with make up and over dry the area with medications, hoping to remove the pimple faster. I suffer from physical and emotional pain, embarrassment and most of all shame. My arms are full of white marks where I have picked them in the past. My legs have scabs. I spend countless hours picking at my skin and I have noticed that this increases both at night and when I am under stress. It does relieve stress in some strange way. I don't think that I am trying to punish myself. I think I just enjoy the stress relief. I want desperately to stop. To not have to hide under makeup, to be able to swim with my kids with out being afraid of what I will look like with out makeup. I even wear makeup to bed in an attempt to hide my face from my own husband. he hates it too