I can't stop picking! :(

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I compulsively pick at scabs, bumps and dry spots on my skin. I can't help it, I have always done it, but it has gotten so much worse in the last year as I have been having increasing anxiety. Sometimes I do it for hours, even to the point where I will be wishing I could stop. It is painful, damaging, ugly, and sometimes feels like it is controlling me! I want to stop but I don't know how. Anyone else have this issue? Any tips or advice? Thanks.

I do this!

I make sure my nails are cut down as much as possible. If you're going crazy on your own callouses like I do, keep socks & shoes on. Cover up what you can with band-aids or clothes. I have picked my cuticles and skin around my fingers a lot to the point of bleeding. When I start doing that, I just wrap the finger in bandage now. If it's one little bit of skin driving me nuts, I snip it clean off with nail clippers and promptly cover with the band-aid. Sometimes I just sit on my hands when I catch myself, too. Oh, and LOTION YOURSELF UP. I feel the urge to pick at skin a lot more if it's dry... and it's harder to pick when you're all soft and slippery.

This is all short term stuff. Ultimately, you need to find a way to figure out and reduce the anxiety.

I do something similar. When I'm stressed/anxious I tend to pull out facial hair. This leaves ingrown hairs which I'll then pick at later on. For me the only solution to that is to shave my face regularly, but that's obviously of no use to you.

Have you tried to substitute it with something else? Maybe you could try to keep some object (small rock, pen cap, anything really) in your pocket and keep that in your hands to play with when you're anxious. Feel the textures on the object, move it from one hand to the other etc. This'll give you a way to relieve some of that anxiety by keeps your hands occupied with the object. Or you could try a rubber band around your wrist and snap that a few times if it's the endorphins from the pain of the picking that you some how need.

I can't offer any tips or advice, but I'm here just to say I do the same thing, too. When I do it I kind of feel guilty, but then I'll do it again. While it's not doing any harm to me, it still is an unnecessary habit that is bad in a minor way.

My sister has a really bad habit of peeling the skin around the base of her thumb(s). It's looking really bad/ugly and I don't know why she does that. To make it worse, she drops all the peeled skin on the carpet of my parents' place and leaves it to be cleaned by them when she visits them.

It's called "dermatillomania". I have it too. I have mild acne and I compulsively pick at the zits long past the point after they've popped, basically picking at them till they bleed and scab, then picking the scabs.The scabs on my face are unsightly and it leads people to ask "what happened to your face?" (Unfortunately the last place I picked at on my face has left a large scar, which I feel self-conscious about.) Sometimes I also get minor infections from picking at my zits. I got one on my shoulder a couple of days ago and it was bad enough to hurt when my shirt touched it and caused me to feel run-down.

Something that helps me not to pick at my skin is using hydrogen peroxide on my zits. It heals minor zits almost overnight, and causes the ones that have turned into sores from picking, and especially the ones that are starting to become infected, to fizz and bubble. To me, that is just as satisfying as if I had been picking them. Ever since I started using hydrogen peroxide, I have noticed that the reduce to pick has been significantly reduced and my skin is finally clear.

I have a bad habit of picking at the pimples on the back of my neck. I end up with these pea green scabs.

I love the sensation of a large zit finally letting go and the fluids rushing out. I know its gross but I really do enjoy it. I had a large one on my posterior recently. The pain was intense. I won't divulge any more informaton.

Thank you all for your replies and advice! Yeah, I like zits and plucking hairs too. As with all of this stuff it is just so nice to know I'm not alone

This seems to be pretty common in ASDs because there have been previous posts about it. As IdahoRose said, it's called dermatillomania, and also Neurotic Excoriation, or Chronic Skin Picking. Me and my daughters do it (and they did it independently, they didn't learn it from me). Here's a really useful website about OCD skin picking: http://www.skinpick.com/skin-picking-ocd

And another one:

http://www.trich.org/about/skin-faqs.html

I do this too, it's actually one of the REASONS my acne got worse. I sometimes go to the beauty specialist to get a lot of it removed, that way there is less to pick at. If you have acne like I do, and if you have the money, go to the beauty specialist to get them removed, it'll give you less to pick at (men can do this as well as women, there are even beauty specialists that focus primarily on men)

I have a major problem with this too...especially the scabs on my face that will bleed very badly. Seeing that I work in a nursing home, I'm kinda committing a health hazard with my scab picking but I can't seem to control it. At times I used to even pick my freckles.

I have this problem too. Pimples, scabs, dry skin flakes, you name it. I'm trying to avoid picking zits on my face so it doesn't leave scars.

I did this with badly chapped lips in Grade School, so bad I have much scar tissue in them now ( & have had too many comparisons to Mick Jagger!).
Even at 51 years, I still pick at my scalp. I will comb it until it bleeds & collect dandruff flakes before sweeping them away. Scabs just make me do it more. Yes, this is abnormal but it just seems to relax me!
I do pick a bit at skin, but not so bad..

Sincerely,
Matthew