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kh6754 , 14 Jul 2009

I had no idea this affected so many!!

I was watching "Obsessed" on A&E tonight and one of the women compulsively picked her face. I had NO IDEA this was a disorder. For years I have picked my face, my fingers, my toes, my feet. My face looks terrible. Scabs and all manner of gross things. I pick off the skin on the bottoms of my feet until they bleed and it hurts to walk. I pick my finger nails and toe nails and the surrounding skin until they bleed and get infected. I'm very embarrassed about my face and feet especially but just thought I was wierd. I already have depression and an eating disorder and don't want to think about adding another diagnosis to the mix. I'm incredibly embarrassed about the whole thing. I would love to get help but now that I know it's actually a type of OCD, I'm afraid to seek help for it because I'm tired of mental health issues. Has anyone been in a similar situation or been able to get over it themselves? ~Katie
2 Answers
JustChelle
July 14, 2009
i am surprised to see that there are more people out there that do this as well. I wore Masking tape and medicine on my feet for a week. I have tried healing lotions with saran wrap as well. I am hoping that the medicine i am on will calm me down enough to maybe relax enough to stop picking my feet!
bas
July 14, 2009
hey Katie, read my post about me quitting the habit. i did it without any help. Even though i relapsed, my picking is almost nothing now, maybe one scab a day at most, so my skin is essentially clear. Unfortunately, based on my research, there is no way to be cured completely. The urge will always be there. However, you can curb it to a minimum. please read my main thread for more. stay strong

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