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alexandra320 , 15 Sep 2011

picking since i was 2

When I was two years old I had chicken pocks with my cousins. 16 years later I still have the scar on my nose to remind me of the damage I did from picking at it when I was younger. I did gymnastics between the ages of five and ten and had to wear leotards. My legs were covered in scabs and it’s embarrassing to know what others must’ve thought seeing a little girl in a leotard with hideous legs. It used to be just picking scabs on my skin like arms and legs but then when I hit thirteen and started getting a pimple here and there that’s when it got even worse. When I was younger I had such flawless skin and it all crumbled down during the teenage years. To this day I sit in front of the mirror mutilating my face, picking at invisible areas just to see puss come out. It's so relieving to do that and I don't understand why! My parents have seen me pick my face once in a while but they don't know how drastic this problem really is. I haven't told anyone about this problem because I'm too embarrassed to let anyone know. I wish there was a pill or some magic technology that can just magically fix the part of the brain that triggers this.
1 Answer
kgolden1234567890
October 04, 2011
I have had a LOT of luck with the amino acid N-acetyl cysteine, which is sometimes sold as N-acetyl L-cysteine, for my 11-year-old daughter who severely picks her skin (arms and legs). I'm hoping that everyone on this group will check it out. We started out at 1200mg each day, 600mg in the morning and 600mg in the evening. Then we worked up to 2400mg, 1200 mg in the morning and 1200 mg in the evening, within about 3 or 4 weeks. The study that was done in 2009 showed the best results were after 9 weeks of continuous treatment with this amino acid, also just known as NAC. We saw great results after 6 weeks. Please consider trying it. I am not a doctor, so please weigh out the risks for yourself. It has truly been a godsend. My daughter used to pick to the point of staph infections. She has scars all over her body. It works by regulating the URGE to pick. You can download the summary text of the 2009 study on this website - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19581567. The study was for hair-pulling, but skin-picking and nail-biting result from similar sets of urges.

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