picking skin...?

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I do that as well, especially with my fingers and lips to the point of bleeding. I’ll also catch myself picking at my acne which is really bad so I try to stop when I notice I’m doing it. I also pick at my eyelashes and I’ve done that since I was a kid as well.

I have done this since probably my teenage years. For myself, I would say that being forced to have "quiet hands" forced me to find alternate ways to release energy/stress, so it evolved into finger picking and hair twirling.

I have gone through phases where I pick at my scalp to the point of creating scabs and then I'll pick at the scabs when they are solid enough to come off in large pieces. Very delightful. But then I get embarrassed when I realize that sometimes the locations have been picked at for so long the hair follicles aren't replacing the hair growth fast enough and I'll get little bald spots where other people will see the evidence of the picking if they look. Then I stop. It increases in intensity when I'm stressed and will progress from pleasant distraction to thoughtless habit quickly if I don't put effort into not fulfilling the compulsion.

I used to pick my lips as a kid. I still pick my fingers, without realizing it most of the time.