picking and eating skin from feet and fingers... what is this?

If anyone finds a way to get rid this permanently please do share........

Hi my name is Eljae, which is just my initials from my first and last name spelled out. I am a little embarrassed to ask to be writing comment on this website. I have been peeling the skin from my feet for eons. I only seem to do it when my feet dry up and start to crack. I usually try to keep my feet in shape and I'm semi successful. As of late my feet have really been bad because I had surgery. The surgery was on my ankle with my left foot. My feet have dried up and cracked very bad and snag on to my socks and bed covers. It bothers me, and that's when I start to pick. Even as I am writing this, I am eating skin from my right foot and I hate it. It's like a dirty secret that I have to hide. When I get my Ped Egg going on my feet, I usually go at it too hard and too long. This ends up with me in pain because now the bottom of feet in certain places have been over focused on. Then I am going to be walking around with the pain for weeks as a reminder of what I did to myself. At the end of the day when I feel that baby soft skin on my feet I don't feel the need the need to pick but as soon as they dry out I am at it again. Oh this is horrible.

I am 12 and I eat the dead skin off my toes and fingers I started about a year ago ,but it has gotten worse(deeper).I want to stop because people are noticing more now. I was at a b-day party and we were swimming and off course my feet look hidious.This girl I barley know looked at my feet and was like "do you bite your toenails ??" and here I was like "uuhhhhhh...no I clip them...but sports really has them messed up " good thing nobody herd but I don't think she bought it. Pls help me

Well this is a rare find i found people like myself however old this post may be i would still like to share my experience with this somewhat unhealthy habit i am well 13 but that doesnt mean i have less rights to speak then any other adult well for as long as i remember eating the skin off my fingers has been a daily thing for me and i have had many difficulties with it such as the opinions of others i pick and eat on my skin alot and unfortunately i have grown to like to eat it and would hurt myself over it i have had enough sore fingers and legs to finally get used to the pain but that has finally reminded me that it isnt normal and dont worry no one is alone in this world fot such a habit there are always others that will
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Hi I'm 12 and I've been biting the bottom of my big toes for about 2 years. I've been biting the cuticles of my nails for as long as I can remember. I eat the skin I bite and pick off. When I'm at church and I bite my cuticles my mom tells me to stop and I don't, she knows that I never do so she doesn't tell me twice. When I started picking my toes my parents would tell me to stop so now I do it in a room no one else is in. Here lately I've started to pick at my heels. Sometimes it gets so deep that it bleeds and I can't walk well the next day, but I have to act like I'm fine or my parents will know I've been picking again. I get so embarrassed, for example I LOVE to swim and this year my picking has gotten so bad that I told my mom I didn't want to go to the pool this summer and she ask me why and I told her that I don't feel like it but that wasn't the truth. Here lately I've kinda been thinking of suicide but I think of how I'll miss my friends, my family, my pets and my future. I haven't told anyone about this and it was really hard for me to write this and let other people see this. I just wish I could talk to my parents so that I could get help. And I just recently got bullied by my best friend ( ex best friend now). And that made me really think about suicide. I also had a really bad teacher that accused me of being the center of drama when it was really my friend causing the problems.

I am 12 and have been doing this forever. I pick and eat my cuticles as well as the skin around my fingernails. Lately I have even picked the bottoms of my feet and this is the reason I decided to look it up and see if anyone else had this problem. No one else knows I have this problem(although my mom knows I bite my nails). I believe I have a type of OCD in which I am compulsed to do this. It has never gotten as bad as severe bleeding or limping, but I do feel I need help. I am honestly confused as how I gave this exact problem, as I never learned it from anyone and started it myself. But I am also very relieved that I am not alone.

Im also 14 and have a similar problem. The skin around the bottom of my fingernails always tends to get really tough since my nails are short, so i started biting it off and eating it when i was around 8. But since i have braces now, the brackets get in the way so i use nail clippers to cut off the skin at the bottoms and corners of my nails and my fingertips. I don't know exactly why i still do this, but something is so satisfying about it; maybe it's how soft my skin feels after i've cut the tops off, or how salty and strangely satisfying tough skin tastes.

Hey I'm Miguel I'm 21 soon to hit big 22 awesome I know tho my skin eating went from small picking from my fingers/feet to now my fingers/feet/palm/and my right knuckle iv tried everything to stop putting chilly in my hands to using gloves nothing works I still do it to this day .... is it normal to me yes .... to my family and friends ... no .. idk what to do it seems I don't control my own body anymore .. I pick n pull till I bleed as well ... properly get an infection at my rate :/ ...

Hi. Im 16 years old and I have a problem. I bite and literally tear the skin off of my hands. They look gross and are very rough feeling. Im not sure what to do. Any advice?????

Well. I bit my nails (And yes i love to pick my skin and eat them and i need help with that)i bit my nail and then they bleed sruff happed i cant stop that too i need help.

Hello everyone, I'm Ashlee. I am a 19 year old college student. I started picking at eating the skin off of my fingers and bottom of my feet shortly after my parents divorced. I was 9 years old. I would get such relief? It was so strange, even though my feet would bleed I would still keep going. Especially the callous. I still do it to this day! It might not be relevant but I also bite and eat the skin off of my bottom lip. It's right in front of my teeth and I do it while I'm studying/consentrating/angry/sad/happy you name it! That ones my favorite even though it has me looking like I got punched in the mouth. Happy to know I am not alone!

hi,the thing is i dont eat it, but i frequently picking the skin around my nails..it becomes a habit actually and i want to stop it.but i just cant especially in my leisurely time,like watching tv,reading.thats the time i like picking it the most .its frustrating
actually, coz im not stopping 'till it bleeds..and after im satisfied
it feels so painful and sore.if its still sticking up?id pick it again and again
now they really look ugly..especially in my toe nails..i feel like crying

Hi... I haven't read everyone's comments, but I know I have a lot in common with this group. Many years ago I read a novel by Margaret Atwood called Cat's Eye, where the main character peeled the skin from her feet. I was shocked. I thought that Atwood had somehow been watching me do it! I thought I was the only person in the world to do this. It was tremendously painful, and I could never understand what the benefit was to me. I know now that I was molested by a friend's father when I was little, and this may have contributed to my behaviour. Although I eventually stopped, the soles of my feet remain red. I tried to tell a boyfriend about it, but it made him uncomfortable, so I never told anyone else. I still pick at the skin around my fingernails during times of high stress. I let them heal completely, then tear at them. And I can't stop picking at blackheads. Although I'm not scarred (externally), it wastes so much time, and I can't seem to make myself stop. But I have to say, it's somehow reassuring to read that I'm not alone. Thank you everyone here for being so brave.

I never realised til this year that I had a problem. Looking back I think this has been with me my whole life and I'm now in my early 40's. I don't understand why but of late I am getting ridiculous. I have started picking my feet til they bleed and eat all the skin. Both feet are currently so sore when I walk. I have always picked my scalp and at the moment am chewing my nails and skin all around them, I am also ripping out my toenails or ripping the nails so low they bleed and picking the inside of my nose constantly (there's a scab in there that I keep picking at) as well as other little things. Basically if I find any imperfection I just pick at them - I spend 20 minutes every night just squeezing blackheads and if I have any scab or cut for example, will just keep picking at it. I try to keep the handy work hidden ie places people can't see. I am so ashamed of what I do, I thought it was just me and I was weird. I have never thought of myself as someone with issues, I have never been abused or anything, I have had a good life and good health, so why do I do this? I have a young child and am frightened I will pass this on to them as I find myself doing it in front of them sometimes.

For a long time I also thought I was alone in this. I have been picking the skin on my hands and feet ever since I was a child, maybe even less than 10 years old (i am now 30). Back then my parents took me to a doctor who said that it was some kind of skin eczema, but I always knew that's not what it was, because I was doing it myself, it wasn't some kind of skin condition that I couldn't control. And yet, even though I do technically have control over it, to this day I still cannot fully control it. I have largely stopped picking the skin on my feet, but I still continue to some extent on my hands. Recently, I was diagnosed with depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which I think explains a lot of why I have been picking for so long. I too have been embarrassed by my skin-picking behavior, but seeing this website and reading all the comments from so many people with this condition, it certainly makes me feel better and more at ease. If you experience skin picking at a young age, please first and foremost understand that there is nothing wrong with you, and that you shouldn't feel embarrassed. However, I highly recommend you try and stop it as soon as you can, because it's a habit that once you get rid of, your life will feel much better. And it's always a possibility that it could be related to anxiety and depression, even at a very young age. If you don't have access to a doctor, ask your parents to take you to your family doctor, and explain to them that it is a habit and that you would like it to stop. Oftentimes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help immensely and it works very well with many people of any age. So, you are not alone in what you posted, I know this is a late comment compared to the original post, but I hope that by adding my voice others will be helped too :). Best of luck!

I'm a sixteen year old female with a very similar problem... I'm so glad there are other people out there. I thought I was just some freak because all I could find was stuff about people picking at their fingers and not eating it, but I seriously cannot help it. I've picked and eaten my entire bottom of my foot before. I went to get my nails done once and the lady doing my feet looked at me like I was crazy (it had been a while but it still hadn't healed fully). I am so embarrassed and it's gotten drastically worse since I was a child, I've always done this but over the past six months I have gone to some extremes and I am not proud. I'm just glad I'm not alone.

Hi I'm 19 almost 20 I have this problem too not as severe as others but I do bite the edges of my finger tips and toes sometimes it's to the point where I use nail clippers to get the skin off and just eat it like that over time it's just seemed normal I eventually started eating my nails and toe nails word of advice keep both clean if you don't and eat it you'll have an upset stomach and occasionally bad number2-3 I got to the point where I do it less but now I'm addicted to doing my boyfriends toe nails he is 26 and has never clipped them in his life so long and flavorful I don't know might be just me but I have no intention of quitting it's who we are and it's the differences in life that make it special

Im only 13 and find the condition really embarrassing. I find it difficult to take off my socks and shoes because I'm worried someone will see the state of my feet. My acne is also getting worse because I can't help but scratch at it. Some times my feet will start to itch and I'll scratch them but I can't stop and just continue anyway even if I don't want to. I think In my head that it will get better if I just pick and scratch my skin but I know that It won't. also, the nails on my fingers and toes are starting to look really yellow and oddly shaped from the picking and biting. It's really embarrassing!