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Cuticles, nailbeds, and other issues :(
Okay, so I just joined this site after having lurked around it for quite a while. I have a tendency to pick at the skin around my nails and cuticles very very often, usually to the point where my skin is either raw or bleeding. I have scars around my nails now that I fear are permanent. :( I've heard that people use acrylic nails to help stifle this behavior, but I cannot afford them and would be too embarrassed to ask my parents for them. I read something earlier about rings being useful as well, and I am considering even getting a spinner ring to distract myself at times when I feel an urge to ruin my skin (during school is the worst, really. And before bed). For anyone who has a similar problem, what do you recommend to help stop picking at one's hands and heal the skin?
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. :)
December 14, 2009
I am currently using silly putty to stop cuticle picking (stress and fatigue related ). I keep some at my desk, in my car, near the couch, in my pocket. It seems to be working (2 weeks, so far). Before this I tried liquid bandage, cuticle cream, tape, gloves, etc. but nothing helped for long. Good luck and don't knock it until you try it.
December 19, 2009
I twiddle a shoelace.
December 19, 2009
I do this too. It is especially bad in school, because i get paranoid that other people see me and also its embarassing when i have to get up to wrap my bloody fingers in tissues or band aids. ugh. for during school ive found that if i fold a piece of paper up a bunch of times and then pick at the corner of that, where there is the most paper folded on itself. sometimes walk around with that in my palm and i pick on it
also, you can try covering the fingers you pick with the most. i sometimes put a waterproof band aid around my forefingers on days when i know im going to be really stressed or anxious.
December 19, 2009
I had a spinner ring and didn't even know what it was for....when I found out I tried to use it but it doesn't do a darn thing for me....it's totally unlike the sensation of satisfaction that I get from "grooming" myself (that is to say, scratching and picking). Maybe you should save your money. Paint your nails with that yucky-tasting stuff (it helped my son stop sucking his thumb)...
December 28, 2009
Rings and spinners do not work. I've been wearing my ring for about 2 years and it didn't help me with my skin picking around my cuticles. The best solution thus far for me is to cut my nails when they're long. Cut it to the point where you see no white area on your nail. If you even leave a little white area, it's long enough to pick skin. The point is to not pick and with shorter nails, you can't grab the cuticles. Hope this helps and happy holidays :D.