OCD and skin picking

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I've been reading about OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and skin picking.

One behavior symptomatic of OCD is Dermatillomania.

Dermatillomania is an obsessive compulsive disorder characterized by the repeated desire to pick at one's own skin, often to the extent that damage is created. It goes along with an obsession with skin and appearance. One article stated, "the material may be manipulated, saved or even eaten." The skin picking is motivated by a drive to "get things perfect." The behavior increases under stress. The picking relieves tension from emotional distress and creates a feeling of calm. Skin picking is often assumed to be nothing more than a bad habit by uninformed people, even when it causes excessive bleeding or lesions on the skin.

Skin pickers also become obsessed with other people's skin and sometimes have and express a desire to pick at or manipulate other people's skin.

This is fascinating to me because I lived with a skin picker for three years, and I did not even know that this behavior was a form of self-harm.

Does anyone out there have any other information on this? I have also read that the picker will pick at areas that have some psychological significance, but the article I read did not elaborate on that subject.

You can pick your scabs and you can pick your nose but you cant pick your scabs nose....I use to eat both(eeeewwww)I was cured of the eating but not the picking...luckily rarely had acne...so I dont have many scars on my face...but at soon as a scab gets "solid" I start picking...a lot were from misqueto
bites or scratches from walking in the woods in shorts....and I think about picking boyfriends scabs but would be to embarrased to ask....I will yank out any nose hairs he has with the audacity to poke their furry heads within my reach....he usually screams and then forgives me...I never thought this was OCD
Thats interesting....I dont do anything else OCDish....

I definitely do this - I can't stand little cuts or scabs and will play with them until they are big cuts and scabs . . . I've done this since I was a little kid . . . and it does increase during stress - when I used to travel a lot with my parents as a child I would end up with big scrapes on my legs from scratching the skin off on international flights . . .

I used to chew the inside of my lip as a child and teenager. I do remember it felt calming. But when someone digs into their skin, and you can see them visibly cringing with pain, or when they scrape into the lower epidermes leaving lesions on their face then I would say it is a more severe case of self harm. Of course, I might be wrong not being an expert on these matters.

He also had an obsession with cutting his moles off. Lots of problems I did not see that were right in front of me at the time.

My 11 year old has struggled with picking skin on his feet to the point he limps in pain. What has helped? Meds don't seem to do much and I have tried stress balls and toys for his hands to keep them busy...

I dont know if this will help him but what I do is se one of those big foot pedicure files...I sand my feet smooth several times a week and then put lotion on at bedtime...this gives me alot of relief...I cant stand the rough feet snagging on socks or against my sheets...try this...if there is nothing to pick at because it feels smooth to him....I also file the cuticles around my fingers so I dont get any snags,carry a file every where,just incase....(course he may just pick at something else...but I only do scabs now.

I have that! I found it under the name CSP - Compulsive Skin Picking. I also have Trichotillomania (TTM) and OCD, so it makes sense. As for information, I don't know how useful it'll be, but you could try www.ocduk.org

I do this with the skin around my nails (as well as the nails), but I don't consider it self-harm nor a wish to be perfect. No idea why I do it, thought it might just be a bad habit or maybe a form of stimming.

I think I have this. I don't -eat- any of it, but I do have a tendency to pick at any zits or scabs or anything that pop up, usually unconciously to the point where I don't even realize I've picked off a scab until after I've done it. >.> I also "peel" off parts of my nails, which sometimes causes some finger bleeding if I yank too far sometime...dunno if that's related or not.

Same here. Also i pick scabs and yes sometimes eat them, i don't at all do this to be perfect though, the whoul eating scabs/skin thing i think is just a natural instinct to save proten (i know its growess but its something i've done all my life, and it dose fell natural).

I've had a long history with this. Actually, I still do pick my skin..not nearly as badly as I did when I was depressed and without medication though. I have a bunch of white-pink marks on my right arm from all the picking I did. I stopped beating myself up about how it looks now, by thinking that actually the marks kind of look like cherry blossoms. Like when they have a Sakura blossom pattern on a kimono, so it's actually sort of pretty in a odd way.

I have a habbit of picking callouses off of my Toes and Heels. I wish that I could stop, but I feel that my Feet need to be perfect.

I chew skin off my knuckles and the backs of my fingers, and I pick practically everywhere. My arms are the worst, but I've started on my legs in the last year or so too. Tiny little scabs become great big raw/bleeding scabs because I've picked at them.

I usually use scissors to gouge off foot calluses.

For everyone who cant stand any rough feeling on hands and feet,instead of picking try sand paper,fingernail files on cuticles and they make big files for feet.It works much better.

i don't have ocd but i like playing with my ears alot.

I pick at scabs until they bleed and I sometimes eat the scabs. I thought picking at them was normal because they get itchy.

I hate it when I get hairs growing out of my ear lobes or nostrils (more often as I get older - eeww) and I often try to pluck them. I think this is getting a bit obsessive.