Skin-Picking Habits...

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I've heard a lot of other people on here say they do this too. I've been skin-picking since i was in middle school... Especially during the part of high school where my acne was kind of bad, it just gave me so much stuff to pick at. I'm sure that a lot of people have probably thought i was a druggie or something when i've had scabs on my face from it(and that zoned-out stare i have doesn't help! lol). I don't think i do it as much as i used to, partly due to less bumps on my face tempting me.. But i still find dry patches of skin to mess with. I think i manage to stop before i get really bloody or anything most times now, though. The skin under my thumb nails is one of my favorite spots. So, anyway... Other people who do this... Is this a stim, an anxiety thing, or what? I hear this being associated with OCD a lot, but I don't really think it's "compulsive" for me... Because a lot of the time i'm just bored, and i kind of enjoy it. Sometimes i don't even fully realize i'm doing it.. Other times i'm thinking about it, and might get out the nail clippers or something to assist me. I scratch at the skin on my head a lot, too... At least the skin there is covered with hair, so no one sees anything!

^^ Yaye, greetings Coldblooded. Oh dear, I am very sorry as I believe that I do not happily pick at my skin, however I believe I do enjoy picking at other pixies upon my body. ^^ I enjoy picking my nails very much so, however I do feel sorry for them. ^^ Also, as of late I enjoy twisting and knotting the happy hairs upon my arms and following this they may be given freedom from my arm. ^^ I believe as I am sitting I enjoy moving my hands and fingers and I believe such acitivities assist me in doing so. ^^ For instance, I believe I very much enjoy tapping with my fingers and creating patterns with the tapping also.
I am very sorry if I am not of help for you.

I voted that yes I do pick at skin and create scabs that I then often pick at. My hands often look pretty beat-up. Sometimes my fingers bleed from this. As evidenced in my childhood movies that my parents took, I was hand/finger flapping from way back then, but I am not sure about the skin picking. When I was in middle school, I got into hair twirling and pulling. I was breaking my hair and after I realized the damage to my hair, I began a stim where I pop my thumb and make it click. I still do that frequently. I also do the hand rubbing/finger flapping stims among a few other stims (such as very lightly rubbing my face, then rubbing the tickle off). As for the skin picking being a stim---I am not sure. I'm sorry I'm not much help on that---but I wanted to share with you my experience with skin picking---I guess I will always be doing that. I am anxious to learn what others here at the WP feel about skin picking being a stim. Interesting topic ColdBlooded.

I don't pick at my skin.

I did this when I was a kid in school but it was mosquitos bites and knee scrapes I picked, not skin. I don't do this now.

Yaargh...wish I could stop...alas I cannot.

I pick at my lips (they are really dry) until they are raw and sometimes until they bleed. I just do it out of boredom mostly, it's something to do with my hands. Maybe it is a form of stimming?

My husband with AS does this a lot. I thought it was just his thing.

He does the same with acne bumps on his face, but having less there he usually messes with his scalp. He'll make something bleed, let it scab, then not too much later he's picking off the scab and starting over again. The more he does it, the more spots he has, the worse it gets. He hasn't ever seemed to notice that he's doing it and even when I say something about it, he seems to need to keep doing it and even to doubt me a little that he has been even as his hand is on his head.

I would say he does it numerous times a day. He hasn't given any hints on what's going on inside when he does so. He seems to do it most often when he's bored or not needing to concentrate. If he's involved in something mentally, he doesn't seem to do it. He does not have any signs of OCD.

This is interesting!

I pick the skin on my arms.

Skin-picking can apparently be classed as self-injuring, but I don't feel that mine is as I am not deliberately trying to cause any pain. It's more of a stim or nervous habit for me.

So do I. This is why my upper arms are covered in small scars. It started when I got chickenpox as a child and I used to pick at the bumps. For some reason, I have continued to do it since then. My boyfriend tells me off for it. I am trying to stop doing it but, unfortunately, it's force of habit. It upsets me sometimes to look at my arms as they can sometimes look really bad. I sometimes cannot wear vest tops or t-shirts as a result, but yet I still do it. It's very frustrating. This is why I never auditioned to be a model years ago, despite wanting to, because my arms look terrible and I felt embarrassed by them. I'm not bothered about the modelling thing now as I know I am too old and have missed the boat, but it really bothered me back then. Sadly, I also pick my upper back, scalp and face. Why I don't know.

I only pick at the dry spots and/or callouses on my feet, but never enough that they bleed.

Yeah, i know.. I never felt like mine was usually related to self-injury either. I find it fun and stimulating.. and i usually *like* the way it feels. I'm not thinking that i want to hurt myself when i do it, in fact i rarely actually think it "hurts".. Even if i do have a tendency to get carried away and make myself bleed sometimes. That's what makes me think that it might be some kind of complicated stim for some people, including myself. It gives me something simple to focus on that also provides a lot of sensory stimulation. I think with the compulsive skin picking that is more associated with OCD, its less about the feeling of it or having something to focus your energy on, and more about just feeling like you HAVE TO do it just because you have to.

Do any of you who do it think the picking could be redirected to something more socially acceptable and less harmful?
Do you think you could exert control over it if you desired to as long as you did something else in its place?
Do any of you who do it have more classic hand-flapping type stims as well?
Do any of you who do it use weighted blankets and, if so, does it make a difference?

If i tried really hard, i might be able to stop it.. but i don't see the point in putting that much effort into stopping it, personally. As long as i don't let anything get infected, i don't see it as being all that harmful. I try to limit it on my face, though... Even if i wanted to, i think it would be very hard to totally stop. It's sort of a habit, and i like it in the moment(even if i don't like the resulting scabs if i do it too much on someplace visible like my face).. So it's kind of an impulsive thing sometimes... But since i don't have nearly as much acne as i used to, i'm usually not as tempted to get so carried away with it on my face. So, i don't really think i have total control over it, no. Like an addiction sort of, heh. I'm sure that even if i decided to stop, i'd still do it without even realizing. But i'm not so sure i could completely stop a lot of my other stims, either. Yes, i do a lot of classic stims too. No hand-flapping, but i rock, shake my hands, flap one of my feet sometimes when i'm laying down, leg-bounce, tap things, all that fun stuff. If i notice myself rocking and then i stop, i just find myself doing it again in a few minutes... So i mostly don't bother stopping them if they're not really disruptive. Never tried a weighted blanket. Where do you find them? I did recently get a really soft blanket that feels really nice and that i love to pet, though.

There are shops online that sell them (for quite a bit, and they also have vests, scarves, lap pads, etc) and there are a lot of places that you can get directions to make your own, too. I read about them on a thread here not too long ago and recommend searching the board for them. They got great reviews. I'm curious if other responses will be in line with yours. It's giving me insight into something my husband can't explain to me.

I've done it for as long as I can remember. I've tried on many occasions to stop, and while there have been periods where I've gone weeks or even months without picking, I never completely squashed the habit.

My legs are badly scarred from my picking habit, and my face has marks from where I've relentlessly gone after pimples (and making that situation worse, I can't stand to wear makeup if I can avoid it...).