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freshstart2014 , 02 Jan 2014

New to this site -2014 will be the year I stop picking

Hi everyone, I'm so glad I found this site. I have been compulsively picking my skin since I was 14. I am now 32. It's hard to believe it's been 18 years. My picking is primarily from the waist up - face, neck, chest. Miraculously, I only have minimal scarring. I'm very ashamed of this behavior. I don't like the way it makes me look, I don't like how compelled I feel to do it, and I don't like how I use it to deal with stress and other uncomfortable feelings. I don't like that I treat my body in this disrespectful and destructive way. Today, the first day of 2014, I spent over an hour picking my skin. Hours later, when I look in the mirror, what I see shocks and disturbs me. Still, after all these years. Since it's the new year, this is a time when people feel motivated to change behavior. I see that there are others here trying to make a new change. I hope that we can help each other.
4 Answers
Flynn
January 02, 2014
As I posted in another topic I'm also planning to quit this year; it's something that I've been working at for a few years now and actually although I had this disorder in smaller levels since childhood I found it really became overwhelming after my laser eye surgery. I know it was that on top of the hormonal changes caused by going off of birth control. Anyways I haven't picked in two days now and I'm going to do everything I can to prevent doing it in the future.
Flynn
January 02, 2014

In reply to by freshstart2014

Well unlike some pickers on here wearing gloves or cutting my nails doesn't work for me because I don't pick using my nails, I actually pinch at the pimple with two bent fingers. So I wear hand lotion that will break me out if I touch my face and I avoid looking in the mirror unless it's needed. Other then that I think about how bad I feel after picking and what it does to my skin on an hourly basis and constantly remind myself of the goal. In the past I've taken a photo of myself after a bad session to remind me of what I'm doing. Before bed I tend to pick the most so after I use my apple cider vinegar toner and exfoliate I wear jojoba oil until bed. The oil is great because it makes it too oily to pick and actually moisturizes my skin very well without breaking me out.

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