Dermatillomania?

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I pick at my skin. For me it feels like it helps me deal with negative emotions like stress, but it actually causes me more stress. I feel it is for me a compulsion.

I pick my scalp I've had this scab for two years now, which is horrible, so I'm trying really really hard to leave it alone. I also used to pick my face but now it's mostly scalp, and just one particular spot (that never heals because it can't).

i'm shocked that this is actually a recognised problem, let alone one that could be related to the spectrum. i've compulsively picked at my face since i was about 16 (i'm now 22) and i always thought it was related to anxiety or low self-esteem, both of which i've suffered a lot of. i used to be painfully self-conscious about spots on my face so i would do anything to get rid of them, even if it meant picking right into the skin and causing it to bleed. the pain or anything never even bothered me, i just simply HAD to do it. when i first moved out on my own i became extremely depressed and my face-picking became so bad i got impetigo on 3 occassions and was eventually put on antibiotics for 9 months because i kept getting bad breakouts and the doctor told me i probably had bacterial acne. on the very rare occassions my skin was clear i would be so happy, i didn't have any compulsion to touch my face whatsoever, but the second i felt a breakout coming up i would freak and attack it until my face was raw and bloody. most of the time my face would be covered in scabs which i would still pick at so i could try to cover them with make-up and i couldn't leave the house if it looked anything less than flawless. this made doing a lot of social things very difficult, and skin-care became like an all-controlling ritual. (creams, lotions. scrubs, face-washing obsessively) i wouldn't stay out late or go to other people's houses because i needed to get home and carry out my cleansing regime or i would feel like i was going to have a meltdown. it really crippled my whole life and made working difficult because some days i just couldn't bring myself to leave the house.

i still suffer now but somehow over the last year it's calmed down quite a lot- i taught myself other coping methods to channel most of the compulsions to pick because it became obvious to me it was all a vicious cycle, so if i wanted to stop having bad skin i would have to stop making it worse. luckily my skin heals very well so the scars only leave small red pigments which are easily covered with concealer, and i've gradually forced myself to wear less and less make-up so my skin has had a chance to clear itself and heal properly.
sometimes i still have awful periods where i will have a very bad flare-up and i'm literally fighting to stop the urge to rip the skin off my face but i just remember that everyday i don't pick at it is one less day it'll take to heal in the end, and it is MUCH easier to cover up spots than it is to cover up open sores.

I've dealt with trichotillomania (and dermatillomania, to some degree) since I was in 4th grade. I'm currently recovering from a particularly bad phase of trich that began while my relationship with my ex was ending, and also when my own parents were divorcing. I have wondered if there is a connection between it and my (undiagnosed - yet) AS.

I used to do this as a child, and have small scars on my legs and arms.

Peeling in general would describe it better, as I peel sh*t off of household items and crap.

Since there's never been any nail clippers available (all my life, in any household of mine or someone else's I've been in, the nail clippers are always lost). The extended part of the nails I just peel off. It's convenient.

As far as anything else, it's nothing in particular. Sometimes its on the tips of my finger, and however frustrating it might be, there's still a little bit of enjoyment behind opening CD cases! Peeling labels from VHS tapes was fun when replacing them (I always used makeshift labels with masking tape, which is convenient especially if you broke off the safety tab from the VHS cassette and you gotta put masking tape over it if you wanna record on it again.

When I was in elementary school, I'd rub a layer of Elmer's school glue on my palm and peel it off after it dried.

I caught myself this morning as I was damn near about to peel the label from my Budweiser bottle. I just now realized while making this post that it would have been somewhat of a reenactment of the second verse of "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow.
"Billy likes to peel the labels from his bottles of Bud..."

Another Aspie I know is an extreme Dermatillomaniac. Picking his feet constantly. I've had to bust him on that, I don't want it on my floor.


Also, this makes sunburns bitter sweet.

I have dermatillomania, I've been doing this since I was 16. I think I do it as a way to internally deal with my anxious thoughts - the pain is relaxing somehow.

I'm finally at the point where I don't want it to control my life anymore. I'm too scared to seek treatment, though, as every therapist I've mentioned it to doesn't take it seriously.

A question to all of you: how do you get yourselves to stop/minimize the damage? Gah I need help....!

I have this. It started as I have keratosis pilaris (plugs of skin develop in hair follicles, resulting in pimples) and it spread to my lower arms. I'm also really hairy (for a woman) and developed ingrown hairs on my arms, because of the keratosis. So, my original intention was to try to get the hairs out, but I've been over-zealous in my attempts. Now, whenever I see a pimple, I have the urge to squeeze it. This just makes the matter worse and probably causes the hair to grow inwards. When I'm stressed, I'm much worse. I spend a lot of time trying to improve the appearance of my skin, but it would get much better if I could just learn to leave it alone.

This is exactly what I do, and what I did, when it comes to the whole snot/shirt thing. Is this something many kids do, or have I just found another clone of myself :O

I've tried bandaids, but then I start picking at the bandaids and get sticky stuff all over my fingers.

Also someone else here mentioned about the elmer's glue. I loved to do that, and even now when I have glue I have an irresistable urge to do that. I love how when I peel it off all in one piece, it looked like a piece of skin with all the folds and lines if I spread the glue just right. I got some weird looks from people when I told them I was shedding...

I only pick at my face when I have acne, which makes it worse. I always pick at the skin around my nails. I press down on the cuticle of my fingers with my other nails and slowly cut off and kill the skin, small bit by small bit. The dead skin then is peeled off or falls off soon, but... my fingers and toes look nasty. I also pick at the bottom of my knuckle on my thumb. Any callouses anywhere is targeted and will not go without being picked.

Me too! o_0

I used to do this every night when I was little. I was so embarrassed by it too but it was comforting. I had to force myself to stop because it would get so bad that it was painful to walk on the bottoms of my feet, I would have to walk on the sides of my feet until the bottoms healed

I am constantly picking at myself. If I have a scab or a blemish I will usually pick at it until it bleeds. I have a billion little white scars all over me, majority of them are shaped like circles. I also am constantly picking the skin off my lips. I hate it but I can't help it

During a holiday trip to Greece I got a sunburn once.
I liked to pick the skin off my back, the sound of it was like thin plastic-paper.
Totally stimming.
Tried to make the piece of skin picked as big and keep the sound going as long as possible.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it's horrible.

Well.. Due to me also having ADD which brought me anxiety which let to being terrible afraid of pain(that kept me from so much and still does!) I only clipped all the hard skin(witch didn't hurt, unless I was too thorough and accidentally got to fresh skin) I was also waay to thorough clipping my toenails (removing every bit of white and pulling the last bit in the corner) , I often got to far and it hurt and bleed! Then I bid my fingernails(and -skin). I always tried to do only what I could find a good excuse for(like.. Surely, I had to remove that!) in my case, it's more about having to remove what I found... But I've moved around for other habits instead.. Now I just badly have too remove all the pimples and other unevenness I see(in the mirror) or feel(with my fingertips) and I have them all over my face, shoulders, back, breast an neck. How lucky can one be? (^_-) besides that.. I once chewed my tongue, now I just bite my teeth a lot!

I actually just heard about this dermatillomania today at my psychologist and was quite surprised. I always just thought it was my anxiety and perfectionism.. ... And a bit of weirdness

I realize this is an old thread, but I'll just leave this here.

That looks quite painful, looks kind of like my back did when I slid on pavement when I was 10.