Does any know what I'm talking about?! b/c I have no clue..

Posted May 29th, 2010 by jackieboy414
i have a question regarding white pin-head dots that I am pulling out of my skin, and what the long term consequences for such actions will be. Ok so I've been picking since I was 19. Now four years later my arms above the elbow and my shoulders are dotted with dozens and dozens of dime to quarter sized pink scars, mixed in with 5 or 6 "active volcanoes." Typically the raging volcanoes start out as a tiny blemish of some sort; Ingrown hair, small nick of skin, even a pimple. After continual picking, they quickly expand and often become infected. when the wounds that are infected become scabs they are literally craters in my skin. if left alone for enough time the crater will forum a scab filled with a gooey yellowish substance. However they don't make it past that stage without being picked at continually. My obsession is not with the removal of the scab, but with removing tiny white pin head sized spots poking out of the area under the scab. Once I remove the scab the area underneath is more puss then blood, so I am able to see the details of the infected crater. I think the white things I am pulling out are hair follicules. IDK, like I said the wound is infected and has cratered into my skin so I am assuming due to the cratered area there is no upper level skin to hide the hair folicules. I will use tweezers to pull these tiny buldges out of my skin. When I remove one it pulls out like a weed being pulled from dirt, the section I see is only a portion of the entire thing. So if u made it thru this post and understand what I'm talking about, are they hair folicules?
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On September 3rd, 2010 lavenderdust said:
Hi, I'm new on here and your post is the first one I read. I have the same problem as you, the bumps are on the back of my arms (triceps) I have found exfoliation in the shower to the area and then applying lotion greatly helps. I hope it works for you, the biggest thing that will help though and is the first step to stopping the picking is mentally stopping yourself from doing it!
On September 2nd, 2010 MAD-am said:
i think you may have a common skin complaint called kertosis pillaris or kp for short. lots of people have it including myself. it looks like little goose pimples usually on the back of your upper arms and when you squeeze them a white waxy subtance pops out. or if you scrach them off and make them bleed a scab forms over the hair folicle you find the white stuff under the scab instead. its basically where the skin makes to much keratin which is a natural protien made by the body, the keratin gets trapped in the hair folicle and forms a little white plug sometimes with a hair coiled round inside, i try not to scratch at mine because they get scabby and i pick the scabs but i cannot resist squeezing the bumps and removing the keratin by popping it out, its so bad because kp is harmless and my arms would look fine if i just left them alone.
On August 30th, 2010 Popcorn47 said:
Are you talking about the white dots that look like they're a form of white head or pimple, or similar,.....but they are only seen AFTER the scab comes off and a patch of raw red skin is there, and these white dots are there, in the raw red skin beneath the scab that you pulled off? I think I know what you're talking about....if you pull them out with tweezers they come out like a tube? They look like white dots all over the place. So if you've got a quarter sized open sore you may see a dozen or so of these little white dots (that, to me, look like what I'd imagine the opening of a folicle would look like if the top layer of skin came off, and these white things, which are not only in one little place, but all over the raw opened area, look like they need to be extracted, almost as if they're the "rest of the pimple" or the root, the deep white stuff you couldn't get out? I'd take a needle and stab at all these white spots and try to squeeze them out, and when that doesn't work, I use tweezers to try and yank them out. I always wondered what they were. First time I ever saw one it reminded me of pulling on a little white worm because it came out looking like some type of tube filled with white gunk. I think those are signs our bodies trying to heal up the pores we just shredded and if left alone, they may very well be the tissue that would make our skin repair healthy, "filled in" and flat. But because we dig that "filler material" out, we've just added onto that whole destruction of several folicles in one "session" and it feels satisfying when you've got one open wound but a dozen white "dots" to launch after, eh? I *think* I know what you mean (if it's close to what I said). I've got those, I just never heard anyone talk about ever seeing them before. A part of me (shamed part) figured they were signs I obviously dug into another layer of skin and was also possibly seeing fat cells and the root of pores,....that I had dug down THAT deep.
On June 2nd, 2010 stickgal said:
I too am unsure what this white pin head thing is..... and I would firstly advise that you go see your doctor incase there it is a rational medical acne kind of thing going on there. I know it may be embarrasing, but you seem concerned enough to post on here............ I was given zinc tablets for unhealed picking sites, and used zinc tincture to bathe them too....Zinc is supposed to help with healing.........However, at risk of repeating earlier posts, I would suggest you look up 'keratosis pilaris' on wikipedia. Simply because of the location you say these bumps are, and that you pull a white 'nub' out makes me want to suggest this to you. As for the picking, you say 'like a weed' coming out, which actually sounds more like a dermotillia response to what is under your skin, and your 'need' to pull this out, even when you have a scab. My guess (and it is a guess) is that the little white thing may be a localised hair folicle or healing reaction, or combination of both???? Anyone else have any suggestions???? But because you pick it out, it may be trying to heal its self as a reaction. I hope you find out what this is, whether it is an actual condition; a DM response or combination of the both. But please........I would always suggest talking to your doctor if youre at all concerned. Hope this helps
On June 2nd, 2010 kmj said:
kmj I don't know what it is, but I've been picking for 25 years and i hope you do not do it that long! Be careful, I have had staph infection that made me very sick all over and may have had serious consequences had I not seen a doctor. At risk of sounding like your mother (and I almost could be) it doesn't matter what you are pulling out, seek help. It's not worth it. I have cystic acne, too and it doesn't go away at 30 and is not likely to go away at 40! I hope you get help or at least keep what I have said in the back of your mind and it helps you stop someday!
For information on the skin picking disorder (Dermatillomania), symptoms, causes and treatment methods, get the Complete Guide to Skin Picking Disorders.