Stereotyping: "meth face" skin picking vs. OCD skin picking

MAN! I can totally relate. Thing is.. I use to do cocaine and speed and picked my face alot then, but even before that I picked my face, my first grade school picture I have scabs on my face. When I got clean I thought I would stop, I don't know why, I must have forgotten my first grade pic, but EVEN I associate the picking with the drugs when ALL ALONG it was OCD!!! I feel like nobody believes I ever got clean and that I have to prove myself by being superwoman. I feel like if I have a particularly bad OCD spell and I pick more than normally that people are saying, "she's back on drugs again". I honestly wasn't positive that people associated skin picking with drug using but after your post I am sure. And I am glad I joined this group because there ARE so many different aspects of it, including the one you just mentioned so, yes, I definitely have similar worries, no matter how different our situation, same thing. Thanks for commenting. Nancy G

I am so relieved that i am not alone in this horrible addiction. I related with almost every post and comment. Sunye, i am so grateful to your meth comment. I have been a picker for as long as i can remember. I get the biggest high when my friends let me pick their skin after a bad sunburn. I am 29 yrs. old and have the picked and scarred my face and shoulders to the point of no return. I hate how bad my face looks right now. I am sitting here with a scarred, tender, and painful face, due to my past 3 days of non-stop picking. My face picking has caused my family to believe i am a drug addict doing meth. I have never even seen the stuff, let alone use it. It has gotten to the point where my sister and brother are determined i am taking something to cause this, they have stopped talking to me all together. Everytime i look in the mirror it is a constant struggle to not find anything to pick on my face. I have even started to pick my razor bumps on my legs, which has now turned into dark scar spots on my leg. I where tons of foundation, when i leave my room or shower, so i don't have to hear it from my parents on how horrible i look and how badly i destroyed my face. I don't know if this idea will be helpful to anyone, but when i was urging to pick, i would put glue on my hand and arm, let it dry then pick it off. It helps to a certain point, but didn't get me to stop. I pray and hope that one day soon i will be able to stop this nightmare, before my face becomes one big picked scar. I wish you all the best in conquering this addiction we all share.

I have similiar worries and saw a post just the other day where a fellow said the same thing, that people look at him and 'assume'. It terrifies me that someone will look at my scars and think I am just a drug addict :(

Yes like having eczema so bad that u always wear longsleeves,so ppl think your a "junkie".It's not fun at all. I just refuse to answer to ignorance!

I'm 34. When I was still in high school (14) I had acquired a pretty bad staph infection on my arms and legs. It was awful and I needed to see a dr in order to clear it up. I wasn't at the point of being able to tell anyone my problem. The dr asked me if I was into IV drug use. Its not an uncommon suspicion for skin pickers, even 20 years ago. Fuck.. 20 years. And I actually started long before that. I'm sorry that your dr is seeing you this way! I know that it hurts. take care.

It's really hard. You know, I have PTSD and skin picking is one result. It's an exterior indicator of struggles I face internally. It hurts when children are leery of me or when a person thinks that I have some kind of awful disease. I have gotten used to these responses...mostly.

The thing that worries me is that when I go for a job interview people will think that I'm on drugs or something (I pick my face) or that I have serious mental issues and they won't hire me. In this job market that's the last thing I'll need. I know job interviews are a long way off for me (I'm 13) but I wish people wouldn't stereotype us like they do!

The thing that worries me is that when I go for a job interview people will think that I'm on drugs or something (I pick my face) or that I have serious mental issues and they won't hire me. In this job market that's the last thing I'll need. I know job interviews are a long way off for me (I'm 13) but I wish people wouldn't stereotype us like they do!