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abackas , 13 Aug 2009

I'm a woman and I pick my breasts! Does anyone else?

Hi there. I've been a fairly serious skin picker ever since I was about 13. I'm now 42. Also saw the A&E Obsessed show and could totally relate. I pick pretty much anywhere and everywhere on my body but my 2 MAIN areas are my face and MY BOOBS! It's just awful! Do any other women have this problem? It's so sad because it really is a beautiful part of a woman's body and here I obsessively destroy it. Anyway, I just discovered this site and forum. It's great. Hope to chat more.
218 Answers
chthonic
September 27, 2013
I'm in tears reading this. This is me. 7 years married with all sorts of excuses why I can't be seen naked. I wish I could just enjoy being naked with my husband, but I never can. He's patiently waited & sort of knows why but we've never really discussed it. I've been doing this for 16 yrs but got worse about 4/5 yrs ago. Only my breasts usually. I can't talk to my doctor about it, I just can't. He can't see me. I'm not alone. That makes me feel good but also sad at the same time because I know how shameful it makes a person feel.
Kelseybird
November 08, 2013

In reply to by chthonic

I feel the same pain and embarrassment. The lights are always off or I leave my shirt on. I feel so ugly and ashamed because of it. I want it to stop, I need it to stop. No one understands this crazy problem I have. I am seeking help from a specialist and I hope this will finally help.
Kelseybird
November 08, 2013

In reply to by chthonic

I feel the same pain and embarrassment. The lights are always off or I leave my shirt on. I feel so ugly and ashamed because of it. I want it to stop, I need it to stop. No one understands this crazy problem I have. I am seeking help from a specialist and I hope this will finally help.
SpaceCandy
November 12, 2013

In reply to by Kelseybird

I found that just knowing I want to hav sex with my boyfriend and look good for him will help me stop picking at my boobs for a few days, but then my willpower will crack. I need to find the motivation to last longer without doing it.
J0Frisky
September 27, 2013
Yes, I have picked at tiny imperfections on my breasts too. I have a few tiny scars.
gsingle79
October 31, 2013
I honestly had no idea that this would be something other people did as well. I am 18 and I have been picking since I was very young. I have keratosis pilaris on my arms and I've completely destroyed them. My problem with picking got much worse though and I began to pick my face, thighs, and boobs. Recently, my boobs have gotten SO much worse because I haven't picked at my face. Every time my boyfriend and I have had sex it has been in the dark...I really want to have sex because we love each other so much but I don't want him to see me naked anymore);
Lyn2015
July 21, 2014

In reply to by gsingle79

I have been picking since i was 5 yrs old and now im 20! I also have keratosis pilaris. I pick at my face, arms, chest, and boobs. I have managed to stop picking my boobs so much, but I still have many scars around them from many years ago. I am really ashamed of those. When I turned 20 I decided to get counseling, but I am still too embarrassed to admit that I pick there to the counselor. It is so weird how you know its disgusting and illogical, and you are doing more damage to your skin than if you left the imperfection alone, yet you still pick over and over and over. This has really taken over my life and I want to get my life back, but I cant remember a time when this was not a part of my life. I really hope this disorder will be researched, I would participate in any research if i thought it would be able to help others with this disorder. I read that in one case a women picked through her muscle on her neck and tore her carotid artery and bled out. I know that seems crazy, but I can actually understand how she could do that, and that really scares me, that my mind is that dysfunctional :/
SpaceCandy
November 12, 2013
Hello all- I am 20 years old, and have not been dealing with picking habits for long. It only recently got bad this year, but has gotten progressively worse. I'm hoping that by admitting it now and asking for help, I can stop my picking before it does serious damage. First of all, I have had mild eczema all my life on my arms. There have been various periods where I would pick at them to the point of bleeding- especially when I was distracted by reading or watching television. Then, last winter when the heels on my feet started to dry up and crack, I began to peel the skin off of them. Sometimes my foot would be raw or sore the next day, but getting the dead skin off was so satisfying. However, I stopped doing my feet after I really started to spend time picking at my face. I believe this was triggered by a magnifying mirror I had gotten to apply makeup. For the first time I could really see the clogged pores on my face and would spend up to half an hour squeezing them out. This habit STILL hasn't stopped... plus about a month later I added a new one. Picking at my breasts is an almost daily thing. It happens pretty muc every time I take my shirt off, picking sessions are before I get in the shower and after sex. I hate the fact that I make my breasts have red and swollen bumps all over. My boyfriend knows and I have asked him to help make me stop, but when he does I get angry. I can even spend up to half an hour picking HIS back and he hates it. There is no bad visible damage on either him nor me, but I know if this continues for years my skin will suffer. I'm so glad I found this forum tonight because I had no idea there were other women who picked at their breasts like I have started to do. Even if I have to cut of my nails, I am determined to stop squeezing at my pores and bumps.
kiwipick
December 27, 2013
hi there im kylee from new zealand, im new to this site. I also pick my breasts. started doing it from 2010 after a series of events that was happening in my life before that i used to compulsivly pull my hair into knots. I have scars on my left and right breast i feel ashamed as when i look at the top half of my breasts i just see so much anger. I have majar depression for so many years im 38 yrs old
bliss
January 11, 2014
I do this as well. Squeezing what looks like black heads. I also have the white matter coming out from some pores on nipples. Does anyone find that the amount of breast tissue has seemed to have gotten smaller and their breasts are sagging from this?
jeanette23
January 25, 2014
Problems can arise when the general health of the patient by the physician not specified implant mammaire correctly. Before performing this operation. Stories about women who breast operating without problems for about a week or two before giving chirurgie mammaire up the infection and deaths have been reported there.
michele
January 26, 2014
I have had ocd my whole life and I am 30 now and I am at rock bottom fighting this. I found this site and am praying that it is a sign or something. a way I can finally get to stop somehow. I pick at my skin constantly and have out of control panic attacks. I think about not being here anymore a lot because I am sure of it that I was not born and chosen to suffer and I am in hell...everyday and all day. if someone is there,, that can help me in anyway...even if it is to chat...I would be so incredibly thankful! I don't know what to do anymore! the only reason I am still alive and will be is because I have two amazing children that I will suffer for the rest of my life for just to be with them. but im not happy and I know they sense that. this is why I am trying my absolute hardest to get help and quick! these counting and repeating rituals and my skin and embarrassment-mentally and physically exhausts me. somebody please help me!
Rsc320
February 03, 2014
I pick, too. I make myself so mad by the time I am done. My skin isn't that bad on my face, some adult acne (I am 34) but I make it sooo much worse by digging at it with my fingernails and tweezers. Lately I can't leave my eyebrows alone, like if there is the tiniest hair beginning to grow outside of my "arch" (defined brow), I want it gone and I make such a mess of my eyebrows by tweezing at the hair that is way too small to grab with tweezers. But I am so determined! I keep at it until I am bleeding and I have a mess. I am ashamed of this, I am ashamed of how my face looks. I don't want to go anywhere because of it. I haven't been to my church in a month because I am ashamed of my pic marks and redness. I feel so hopeless. My dermatologist said to stop picking and gave me some topical acne stuff and a blood pressure pill that helps with acne. I used accutane 15 years ago and I wish I could get it again but I know it's pretty bad stuff. I did good on it. Anyway, I just need support for the picking, the physical scars, but mostly the emotional scars this is leaving. Help.
SickOfPicking
February 07, 2014
Hi. I just found this site. I am a 42-year-old single mom of four. I've been dealing with depression and anxiety since I was a teenager, at least. With medication I've had that under control most of the time. Although, I've never had any relief from picking with the medications. I've never known anyone else to pick their breasts like I do. Obviously I knew I wasn't the ONLY one in the 7-8 billion people on the earth to do this but it sure felt like it. I, like most as I've been reading on here, began picking my breasts when I was about 12 years old. I had already been picking my face for years before that. I began getting acne when I was only six years old. My father would force me to stand there while he picked at my face often leading me to tears. He continued forcing this obsessive, controlling, downright mean behavior well into my teen years. Side note - he, on VERY many levels, was a mean, abusive, terrible excuse for a father. I've always contributed my obsession with picking due what he did to me {specifically in this respect}. After reading so many messages from fellow pickers I'm thinking it may be more than just having grown up with it. Either way, besides over eating, picking is what I'm most ashamed of. It has caused me embarrassment and shame for as long as I can remember. Until just these past few years I would NEVER let my partners see me naked. I'm going to be 43 next week. That is OVER 30 YEARS of suffering from this awful habit. I have scars all over my body from picking. And tons of scars on my breasts. Like many of you, I always tell myself I'm going to stop. Then I do it again and again. I don't experience hardly any pain to speak of when I'm picking but the satisfaction of squeezing it out or picking it off is unbelievably addicting. Sometimes I'll go a day or two without picking my breasts or anything else to the point of it leaving a red mark or puffy irritated skin, which almost always happens. But I honestly don't think I've ever gone a day without picking at least a couple black heads or otherwise clogged pores on my face. Although, picking my breasts and the scars it's left is the most humiliating. And here's something I've NEVER confessed to anyone, not even in a private journal: I also eat what comes out if it's solid. It doesn't taste like anything. I'll do this with my nose, too. I know this is terribly repulsive and if anyone ever found out or caught me doing it I'd want to just die. It's so unbelievably shameful. I wish I knew why I do this. It's so compulsive. I'm also pretty obsessive about plucking hairs, mostly on my face like eyebrows or nose hairs and now the ever-increasing old lady whiskers on my chin. WOW! I can't believe I said that "out loud"! (((Deep breath))) What now? Therapy? I read on here someone was going to try hypnosis to try to help her stop. I may give that a try. Thanks to all of you out there sharing your stories. I want relief from these afflictions for all of you as much as I want it for myself. Thank you for reading my story/confessional. Hugs.
sugamami38
February 20, 2014
hi im 40 and i started picking bout 4-5 yrs ago on my face and breast also covered in scabs its so stressful but i cannot stop it drives my husband crazy i feel out of control :(

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