Skin Picking - Forum

"Gemini's being restless by nature tend to live on their nerves, allowing the energy consumption for two. Having inquisitive minds, the stay distracted and often forget basic bodily needs, such as eating and sleeping. Gemini is the ruler of the nervous system, causing mental and nervous exhaustion to be trouble spots. The fingers, hands and arms are also trouble spots" Im a gemini and been picking my face for years (not so much lately though) Would be fun or interesting to see what zodiac sign most pickers fall under...

Has anyone found that cutting out caffeine - specifically coffee - has helped slow down the picking? I drink 4-6 cups of coffee per day and sometimes find the caffeine gives me extra restless energy and I pick more.

I've been skin picking for 20 years. Over the years I've scalp picked, scab/excema picked and finger picked. I'm now predominately left with picking the skin on my fingers. My thumbs have callouses and the rest of my fingers are starting too now, on the left side of my distal-interphalangael joint. I hate being this way so imagine my shock when I find out I am not alone!! For years I didn't speak of what I did, hid what I did, dismissed what I did and thought I was a freak. I've become quite clever about my skin pick. I rarely make my fingers bleed, I just move on to the next one. So anyway, after much soul searching I knew I needed to stop, I've known this for years. I've read lots of tips on these forums and the internet and I tried to work out for me why I did it. I've not quite worked it all out but there is something about wanting to remove imperfections on my fingers plus I've been doing it so long I mostly do it without even realising. YESTERDAY I GAVE UP. Seriously. Willpower works for me, I developed a couple of my own CBT techniques. I have not skin picked for 44 hours now and I don't intend to start again. I am really not sure if this is going to work but I've taken control like this in other areas of my life (ie weight) and it has worked. I'm also dealing with alot right now and I feel like I'm seeing life in a new way, I was diagnosed with cancer last month so maybe this isn't the right time to 'quit' but I'm going to try. Wish me luck!

This is my first time posting about my issue. I am 28, I am a mother, I live a full life and I pick my skin compulsively. I have destroyed both right add left middle finger and pinky knuckles. They're swollen, scabby and because of the imperfections, I continue to pick, but I also enjoy the feeling of that tiny sting. I don't want my child to think this it's something they should do, but I can't stop. I need acceptance and assurance to know that I can stop. This isn't anything I've ever heard of, but I've dealt with it for probably 18 years. I started picking my knuckles in 5th grade, after developing a callus on my right middle finger, likely caused by lots of writing with a pencil. I noticed I could squeeze and pinch it, without pain. Fascinated, I picked it. I tried biting it. Later, in an attempt to get rid of it or challenge the pain tolerance, I clipped the callus with toenail clippers. I put the chunks of skin between my front teeth and chewed it, before spitting it into the trash. I kept this up for years. I've even gotten so into it, run out of skin on my hands and began clipping the bottoms of my heel and the edges of my toes. Huge pieces of long, chewy skin. I didn't always chew it, sometimes I just looked at it and played with it in my fingers. as much as I liked this area to pick from, I stopped, once I realized people started to catch on and ask me what happened to my feet. There was no easy way to explain the pattern I made from texturing my skin with nail clippers. Especially if I drew blood, which then, took longer to heal. It was really noticeable after being in a hot tub or pool. Water is to skin pickers what luminol is to a crime scene. Back to the hands, since those are easier to hide, for some reason. People thought I was biting my nails, but it was anything and everything but the nails. I started using my thumb nail to roughen up my pinky knuckle, then I involved my left hand. If my knuckles (the one closest to my fingernail) became too painful to bite or pick, I would scratch it, or firmly press the edge of my thumb nail into the callus of a raw knuckle just for the sensation. In addition to the tops of my hands, I found that biting the under side of my middle and thumb knuckles allowed me to start a new and relatively painless picking canvas. I like to bite and pick these areas for thinner slivers of skin. Sometimes, I grab enough that it peels away from the knuckle. I have to use clippers or scissors to cut it off, as the skin peels like a snowball, getting thicker and deeper, causing a different, intolerable pain. I bite around my finger nails, not always to chew skin, but because I like how it feels. Recently, I've attacked my cuticles more than ever. They're so raw. A few Weeks ago, I pulled a chunk from my thumb cuticle, but it was a vertical pull, meaning I grabbed a chunk and pulled it straight up. About the size of a pin head. It sent the most euphoric chill down, throughout my entire body. Every time I thought about it, I got more chills. I'm addicted. I picked less when I was exercising regularly or had acrylic nails. I do it in meetings, at my desk, in bed, at the grocery store, on the phone, at the club, talking to people, there isn't anywhere I won't do it. I can't be in a relationship. Every time a man had held my hand, he has noticed the dry, raw knuckles. I know, because they've all rubbed them with their thumbs, then tried to look. I pull away, sometimes explain, but I am starring to think that I'm one in a bazillion and I'll never stop. It's embarrassing, I can't control it. Even though I know it's wrong, like any addiction, I still do it. Sometimes I spend hours, sometimes I don't even notice I'm doing it. I also bite the insides of my cheeks and reach for feet skin, but I stop myself before I pick my feet. It's there anyone like me? Is there help?

I am a 19 year old girl.. and i started picking my shoulder and back 2 1/2 years ago. I have been picking my face since i was 13, but thought that was normal, since i just started getting bad skin at that age. But now i realize this all might have started then.. I can cover my face with makeup, but my face isnt bad at all anymore. my shoulders and arms on the other hand.. a lot of white scars, scabs, sores.. i have to cover my arms at all times. I got married 2 months ago.. and i wanted soooo bad to wear my gorgeous dress without an ugly jacket.. but i couldnt.. my arms are so bad i cant show em.. my husband knows. he tries to help me.. and i hate the feeling when i see how upset or disappointed he is when he finds out i have destroyed my arms even more. I have also chewed on my lips and inside my mouth since i was 14. I think back now, and it started right after my father died(when i was 14).and my grandmother had died 2 months before that. Not gonna go into detail about all the down times in my life that could have triggered the arm and back picking.. but i know that i am depressed all the time, and my husband thinks i should go see a shrink.. I want to get better,for me and for the love of my life. its saddens me that i cant ever wear a tshirt or top without wearing a jacket over ever again.. I live in one of the hottest states in the US.. so its hard to have to wear something that covers my arms all the time.. sorry if this is alot to read.. but it actually helps writing it out :) trying to keep to hands busy so i wont pick ! ;p anyone with the same problem?? ps. read something about "swedish bitters".. supposed to help with scars.. im definitely gonna try it out!!

Hey Has anybody kicked this and then had a facial resurface? Everytime I think about the facial resurface I get excited and feel like there may be some hope to be normal again. I keep saying if I get this one cleared I will go and get a consultation and see how much it is. Then I feel I will have a chance to be normal again.

Hi I just posted about finger chewing in detail as well. I think I stopped finger chewing as I developed this new habit which I have had for about 3 years. I like talking abut the details just because it is interesting and re assuring to find people who suffer from the same thing and I wanted to compare just how similar our habit is in detail. It started one day at work when I ran my fingers through my hair and noticed an imperfection. (I VERY rarely get spots) so it was novel that one was on my SCALP! I picked it and just thought nothing of it then when my shift had finished I was running my hand through my hair again and noticed that the stuff that came out had dried into a like a scab. I got so much comfort from picking this scab off and sliding it off down my hair, that from then on, I was constantly searching my scalp. I then started chewing the scabs when I picked them off between my front teeth. Basically it got worse and worse until I was purposely clawing at my scalp in order to make scabs. Each time I picked a scab off, I would wait with anticipation for the few hours to pass until a bigger scab had formed there for me to pick again. Even if it is just dried blood or fluid. Anything with the same sort of crunchy texture. I feel so PATHETIC when the first thing I do when I wake up is check for scabs, and get annoyed when waiting for my hair to dry when I get out of the shower. I sometimes like to rub the scabs between my finger or examine them closely too. Sometimes if I feel especially stressed I will save scabs on my head and pick them later as a sort of reward, and just keep feeling them on my head. Before that one day at work, I had never had problems with my scalp, no dandruff either. I don't let people see me eat the scabs. But my friends see me pick my head all the time. If they tell me its disgusting I just tell them to piss off. I've heard of much more disgusting habits than this. Up until now I am surprised I haven't had loss of hair or scarring on my scalp from this. I have a long history of depression, anxiety and OCD which I am on medication for, I suffered trauma as a child, but I really never thought that scalp picking had anything to do with it until I read this website. I thought everyone had habits and mine was just more intense. I have other, much more noticeable disorders that are clearly linked to my OCD, so scalp picking seemed to be one of the more NORMAL activities that I do, lol :(. Please let me know your thoughts.

This site amazed me and I have read many reports of skin chewing and find it interesting to talk about and just wondered if any of you have like the exact same finger chewing habits as I do? When I was younger (12-17) it was worse. It started with biting the CUTICLES as sometimes there was a plump bit of skin at either side of my nails and I found it chewy then it turned into ripping it off which would tear more of the skin down my finger or across ways so that I was eventually peeling LAYERS off my fingerprint area like an onion. The layers underneath had like, no fingerprint. I couldn't stop myself even when it bled and hurt! Whenever I had a bath or shower or did the dishes, I noticed that the skin on my fingers became more plump and was even more irresistible to bite after it was wet! I was always rubbing my fingers together or across my lips to feel the rough bits to feel where to bite next. Eventually I found a more efficient method (crazy) that didn't tear as much, I would use nail clippers to clip the skin of the cuticles off and chew it. At one point I even started doing the same with my toes, and when I was no longer flexible enough to lift my feet to my mouth I used the nail clippers. When I chewed the skin it was always between the front teeth or maybe canines, and I would end up swallowing it afterwards. I did get some infections from this. It is weird because I have never ever bitten my nails, just the skin. I am 21 now and I don't do this much any more, though I have no clear memory of when or how I managed to stop. I think it was because I developed a different habit instead, which I have posted about in another thread. People at school were disgusted. I like talking about the details of these habits because it makes me feel not alone and assured that we are definitely talking about the same thing.

Since I have become more aware of my picking, I have narrowed it down to stress. Today, Sunday, I had no urge to pick and had a very stress-free day. It seems like I notice I get in the "picking trance" when I'm driving. I live in Los Angeles and drive a lot. I tend to start picking my face when I'm on the freeways. I am a recovering addict and I know from my 12 step recovery work that the solution starts with the admission of a problem. So, when I went to my therapist on Friday, I wore no make up. I have started to talk to her about my skin picking, which in my opinion, is nothing less than self-mutilation. Although, I realize I am OCD/ADD and this habit is a byproduct of both disorders. Ironically, we have been discussing "old wounds," emotional wounds that I need to deal with. I am hoping that awareness is the key to stop this insanity.

I have been picking my fingers/nails since i was 5 or 6. and my lips since i was 9. I absolutely can not stop! If i look in the mirror i start to pick my lips. I cant cover the mirror up because it is shred with others and they would question it. My lips are always red/cut. I often have to use one hand in the shower because the other is so cut that water KILLS! sometimes i have to miss it for a couple days and hope my hands get a little better so i can have a normal shower. I don't know the last time i used too hands. I find i always pick my right hand loads more. I hate doing it. I have so many scars and don't like to get my picture taken or having people ask about it or ask about my hands. Does anyone find they pick more on a certain side? Do you have any tips to stop picking or to pick less.