Skin Picking - Forum

Hello All, I am new to this forum & like everyone else has said, so happy to have found out I am not alone. I'm 39 & a recovering Opiate addict. When I got clean I believe I traded using drugs & now pick/pluck my eyebrows. I no longer have any eyebrows left. I have to draw them on. I have a multitude of products that I use from brow powder, wax, liquid, brow fibers, etc. You name it, I've bought it to try & hide the fact that I have no eyebrows b/c I can't control myself. Anyway, I mentioned Swollen Lymph nodes, b/c I just found this site & see that a lot of people have talked about having that? I'm not sure I understand, what does picking & lymph nodes have in common? I don't think I've ever experienced swollen lymph nodes due to my tweezing excess. Any explanations would b greatly appreciated. Of course now, the anxiety is kicking in,LOL, & thinking all kinds of bad scenarios. I have noticed that my scabs have been getting so red around them, infected? I assume. I do put Neosporin on after every picking episode. I've managed to apply the 12steps of Narcotics Anonymous into my life, now I need to try & do the same with my picking. Thanks 4 reading. Good Luck 2 everyone to stop & stay stopped. That's the hard part.

I was looking through the Forum, and I was having trouble finding a thread on mouth biting/picking. Could some one either point out to me where there is one, or if not, let's start one here. I'm back to my old habits now, but I had actually stopped biting for almost a year and a half. One of the things that really helped me, , was when I stumbled on another site's thread about mouth biting, and I felt a lot better hearing other people with the same stories as me. (Unfortunately, I haven't found that site/page since then.) There are a lot of people posting here who bite their fingers, which I do a little, but I think it would be really helpful to start a thread with people who's main issue is their mouth. I always feel so horribly socially awkward contorting my face to reach pieces of skin. Not to mention the whole lower half of my face kind of dully aching when I do it bad enough. I'm in CBT for a second time. Last time it worked great. After trying of different psychiatrists who didn't seem to understand the problem, the CB therapist really gets it. But this time I'm worried it's not enough. Not to mention last time when I stopped mouth biting, I was still replacing it with intensive nose picking. At this point I'm so discouraged, I don't know whether I should just keep pressing on with my CB therapist, or if i should try out some meds again.

Hi all, My question is very simple. Has anybody tried hypnotherapy (hypnosis) to remediate skin picking? I have dermatillomania/trichomania since I can remember. I am ready to try anything to get rid of this nasty compulsion. thanks,

So I am a 22 year old female and I found this site while searching about scab picking. I have an ongoing scab right now that I have picked for about a month. My boyfriend keeps trying to get me to stop but I just can't help it. He then told me to go online and see if this compulsion is real, and here I am. I have done this for as long as I can remember. As sick as it sounds, I do like the taste of blood and scabs. I don't do it just for the taste, I do it mainly for what I call "correct healing." I will pick just sections of the scab that is darker or thicker/thinner than the rest. I feel that if everything isn't even that the scar will look worse. I have been diagnosed with OCD and I am taking anti-anxiety medication. Is this dermatillomania or something else. I don't create the scabs, just pick ones that happen with various scrapes and scratches. I didn't think that this was a real thing and that I was weird for doing it. I find comfort in the fact that I am not alone. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

when i went to my college counselor a week ago my mother just had to bring up my anixiety towards testing. ever since i was 10 the state always put so much preasure on the principals and teachers so that the students would be "exemplary" when it came to the test scores of us. for years the beat it over the heads of the kids which can in turn be very stressful to students who were told that they would not pass the grade they are in and would be put in remedial classes the following year due to their failier. we were stuck in a classroom for several hours not allowed to talk or get up even for luch time. the food was brought to us and about 20+ of us are still stuck in that small ass room till very kid was done. once this was out in the open i startd to cry and i noticed my hand go to my head to pick. the counselor then told me my anxiety may come from the feeling of being trapped and over whelemed. over whelemed to the point of me breaking down crying in class banging my head on the desk wanting it all to be over. i fear for my college future. mainly because if i dont stop ill probably litterally pull my hair out, or if i dont skin pick ill find another outlet to deal with this. i hate skin picking, its disgusting, and i hate how i have to cover up my scabs and scars.

I'm Kate. I'm 27 and have been picking at my skin and scabs and blemishes (anything that is even slightly raised on my skin) for as long as I can remember. I'm sitting here on the forum tonight scratching off every new scab that I acquired while at work (where I don't pick as much, of course). I've known for a long time that this has been an issue and I've even brought it up with my psychiatrists and psychologists and therapists (whoever I thought might be able to help) in the past, but nobody has ever really done anything for me. They've treated my depression, but not the dermatillomania or CSP. I mostly target my back/shoulders/neck area, but I'll attack pretty much any part of my body. I do my best to avoid triggers...mirrors or seeing my own bare skin are big no-nos. But I can't avoid them all the time...and even when I do, there doesn't go a day where I don't scratch and pick. I've been trying to be more aware of it, because I do it without thinking sometimes, and I realized that I probably scratch or at least feel for bumps/blemishes/scabs min. every 10 minutes or so. If I don't pick immediately while I'm doing, I might just lightly scratch my arm or something without tearing the skin. I do that around other people pretty often. It's gotten to the point where I'm almost afraid to be alone, because I know I'll start up--I scratch before bed, when I wake up in the morning, in the shower, in front of the mirror before washing my face, in the bathroom at work even. Anyway. I've kind of gotten a bit of inspiration earlier this week and I will be calling my therapist's office tomorrow to set up an appointment to discuss this issue specifically. I hope I'll get somewhere. I've been trying to quit picking for so long it feels like I'll never stop.

We have a problem. With each of us it might differ as to where or what we pick, scratch, rip or pluck or whatever self defeating, self harming, injurious behaviour that we employ. We each have deep seated reasons for what we do, be it any one of a number of experiences from an abusive upbringing, abusive relationships, traumatic experiences, stressful environments, stressful times, or any such negative, life-sucking, history we’ve endured. We have turned to hurting ourselves to cope and deal with all that. Perhaps even so that we don’t turn to harming others! Who knows? But that doesn’t make it right. It’s not the healthy choice. It’s not the intelligent choice. And as intelligent people we must realize that no one else, no doctor, no therapist, no dermatologist, no psychologist, or no hypnotist can make us change our behaviours. Only we can.

I'm 23, and I pick blackheads/bumps to get the stuff out. Every once in a while I pick my face, but mostly it's in bed and I get my sides, chest, thighs, and especially the groin area. My husband and mom know about my obsessive picking (if my husband has a pimple or a blackhead, I HAVE to get it or else I feel sick to my stomach and obsessive). The thing I don't tell anyone is that when i get stuff out, oil or blackheads or anything from the pore I squish it and smell it. I hate it because I feel like a freak but it's soo satisfying I can't help it. I get a little choked up just thing about it. I guess I pick from anxiety or to calm myself or zone out or whatever, but why the smelling? It's weird. D: I haven't told anyone this and I'm debating mentioning the picking to my therapist.

Hello all, I am a 20 year old who has been picking my scalp for some time, but only recently did I realize the damage I was doing to myself. I have been nearly pick free since February but the hair on the top of my head is still largely missing. I have significant flaking in the areas I picked and can't really tell if it's diminishing. Anyone one out there have any stories of hope? Will my hair grow back? -M

Hi all - I am AMAZED something like this even exists. I've been biting my nails my whole life - I was a "daddy's girl" and he always bit/picked so I did and now I'm 28 and it's seemingly getting worse. I've actually been put on zoloft for anxiety and for some reason, I feel less anxious but I'm biting/picking a lot more - all day, everyday. Really bad calluses are forming and that makes me continue to pick - and pick and pick and I don't know what to do!!!! Just reading your guys' stories are comforting since I always just thought this was nothing. But, reading all this - I've had trouble with eating disorders, alcohol issues, I smoke cigarettes and now this. Just feeling a little crazy right now and I don't know - I'm a bit confused by all this information as I thought it was a stupid, harmless habit but now I'm realizing it might be more... ugh.