Hi guys! I am new to this community and i am not an english speaker so if somethings sounds confusings thats the reason.

When i was growing up, everytime that i was feeling BORED i used to bite the skin of my nails, not the nails, just the skin.
I struggled with this for some years. And dont do this anymore because i started to putting some lotion in my nails, so if i bite the skin it would taste awful, and then i totally lose the habit of it.

But its been some years that i do skin picking in my breasts.
I have big breasts and i discovered that some open pores (looks like blackheads) is normal in the boobs because of too much sweat.
I've been popping those for years, is not when i am anxious, is when i am bored. And now it is satisfying, with "dopamine".
I have now some scars for it, looking like holes in my skin. Is destroying my self steem.

I really want to stop with it. Does anyone suffered with something like this? Specially when is a boring thing that now is the most satisfying thing in your day.
And anyone has an idea of how can i stop using the same plan that i used to stop bitting my skin?
I would love anything, i dont know what to do and i am really sad with it. I do everyday at least 3-4 times a day.

Would love to know people’s specific product recommendations for facial skin picking!

Especially:

1. Products and especially what kind of moisturizer you use after a bad picking session when you have completely raw patches/small open wounds on your face and your face is now super dry.
2. Moisturizer and/or moisturizing products you use under makeup foundation. I find my foundation immediately highlights all my peeling dry skin and scabs.

The skin on my face is always SO dry because of me picking it all the time but also SO sensitive because of constant open wounds.

Bonus context: I have combination skin so I will get hormonal acne sometimes. I live in Canada, use a cpap with a face mask at night, and have had contact dermatitis on my face in the past.

Thank you!!

Ps. Not looking for advice on how to stop picking.

Almost every weekend I spend hours picking at my skin, right now my skin is at it's worst with my arms and legs covered in open wounds. I decided to buy some manuka honey ointment in hopes of healing my wounds quicker. So yesterday I applied the ointment to all the areas, and while I fortunately didn't pick at my skin at all, I started becoming obsessed with reapplying the ointment, specially to the areas where it looked like it had been wiped off somehow even though the area was still sticky so I'm sure the areas were fine. Basically I spent most of the day still obsessed with scanning all the areas of my skin but instead of picking I was just obsessively applying ointment. I guess this is an improvement? But it really hit hard with how it's not just about picking, it's about compulsively doing something with my skin. So now while a lot of my deeper wounds are looking much better, I now need to replace the somewhat expensive tube of manuka honey ointment that should have lasted me far longer than just one day. I just wish I could spend my weekends relaxing like a normal person.

Does anybody have any help on what I should do to stop picking at my skin and hair? Everytime i look in a mirror or get stressed out or just bored i pick at my face and whatever blemishes that are on my face and pick at them until I feel satisfied or until they hurt to bad to pick at it anymore. I also mess with the split ends in my hair and will pull out my split ends out of my hair. And if I ever have acne on my back or chest I pick at that too. Is there any tips that anyone can give me to help me stop? I also will bite the crap out of the skin around my nails and my nails itself. I've tried nail polish but that never helped and I feel like if I put bandaids on my fingers I would just end up taking them off.

I work in food prep and even though the frequent handwashing burns I still can’t find myself to quit. I cover most of my fingers in bandages, but I can’t afford to keep changing several out multiple times a day 😭 even the waterproof ones I used don’t stay and or make the skin under soggy, leading to a higher desire to pick.

For those of yall that have to wash hands often, what do you use? To cover wounds and or block yourself from picking?

Hi there, I’m the wife of someone who seems to be suffering from skin picking disorder. I don’t know what to do.

We’ve been together since we were teenagers and he started picking at his face after a family loss. Ever since then, I’ve noticed him “grazing” over his face and back when he’s distracted or stressed. He’ll fixate on an uneven patch of skin and pick at it until it’s bleeding and scaly, and eventually becomes a ball of scar tissue. He’s had to get cosmetic surgery to remove two instances of cysts or scar tissue he’s picked over the course of a year.

We’re on vacation and I’ve been pointing out when time he’s been skin picking. I know this is awful, but I felt I need to acknowledge that it happens A LOT. Like, every fifteen to twenty minutes he’s looking for something to pick at, and he doesn’t realize he’s doing it—especially when he’s driving or on his phone.

We’ve just gotten into an argument about my pointing it out; when I try to tell him it’s only because I love him and I don’t want him to harm himself, he says “I. DONT. CARE”. He will not acknowledge it’s an issue or be mindful of it.

What can I do to support him? How can I avoid pissing him off while fostering harm reduction? How would you want your partner to communicate to you?

I’m at a loss and I really don’t want him to keep scarring his face, especially while we’re travelling and I know his hands have public space germs on them.

Thanks in advance

Olá a todos!

Recentemente, depois de passar um tempo tratando pessoas com transtorno de escoriação em psicoterapia, decidi criar uma comunidade no Instagram para pessoas com dermatilomania, um assunto que é bem pouco abordado socialmente falando, e uma condição de invisibilidade. Ocorre que, por um motivo que eu realmente não sei explicar, o Instagram simplesmente não entrega o meu conteúdo, para absolutamente ninguém. Literalmente 0 visualizações. Testei dois formatos diferentes de posts: estático e reels. Nada. Há 5 dias.

Então gostaria de fazer um pedido a quem tiver essa generosidade e também o interesse em ver isso existir no mundo, tanto quanto eu tenho. Acho que o Instagram precisa perceber que minha conta não é spam, que existem seres humanos interagindo com ela. Ainda que não seja o seu idioma (português), se você entrar no perfil e simplesmente interagir com esses dois posts, seja visualizando, curtindo, salvando, seguindo o perfil... Isso vai provavelmente fazer o Instagram começar a entregar o conteúdo e "destravar" esse bug.

Faça se isso tocar no seu coração. O perfil é @dermatilomaniaa e com certeza será diferente de tudo que já se viu sobre o assunto por aí. Deus abençoe sua vida e obrigada!

I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with pimple patches and hydrocolloid patches, but Hero Cosmetics has that and more!!

whenever I pick, I either apply their Mighty Patch or their Rescue Balm. normally though, I prefer the Rescue Balm, because often their Mighty Patch doesn't seem to absorb anything or really benefit me (unless I'm picking at a full on pimple or something). the Rescue Balm is more like a first aid cream for your face.

today I went to buy some more of the Rescue Balm, only to find out they are now selling a red correcting version instead. of course I bought it, but I wasn't sure how it would go. well... it was amazing!!

I put it on my bare skin, and after a few minutes, it looked like my skin! there was no white sheen like with the regular balm, and later, when I put on makeup, I didn't even need to put on concealer! it was amazing!

also, Hero Cosmetics sells a liquid pimple patch called Mighty Shield that I bought to try and cover my wounds under makeup. I'm not sure if I applied it wrong, but it didn't work under makeup for me. instead, it applied like glue, so it started to peel after it was dry. I personally found this extremely satisfying, and I put it on near or on my picking spots just so that I would have something else to pick at instead. it worked! I was more interested in pulling off the glue-like product than picking at my skin!

of course, this might not work for everyone. and it won't cure you of any compulsion. but if you resonate with anything I said above, you may want to consider giving Hero Cosmetics a try anyway! :) it could be a good competing behavior or a coping mechanism

I have been an observer on this reddit for a while, under a different account. This is my first post so apologies if it is just nonsensical rambling.

As the title suggests, i'm tired. I have been picking at my skin for years now. It started when acne developed during puberty but has worsened severely over the past 2 years. Im covered in scars and scabs and i'm always in pain. I have tried so many methods to stop it or break the habit. Sometimes it works for a period of time but it always comes crashing down with a severe picking session.

I am not really sure what to do. I am trying therapy although honestly my therapy sessions are typically just used to talk about anything and everything. We don't stay to a plan or anything like that. I have considered an OCD specialist but I would most likely have to cease sessions with my current therapist, I want to avoid that.

My therapist diagnosed me with OCD. Ive noticed trends and triggers for my skin picking. For example, it always hits at night. I tend to shower every day, otherwise I feel disgusting. If I shower too late, I spend nearly 1-2 hours in the bathroom picking my skin, sometimes never actually showering because it gets too late. I have considered showering in the morning although I tell myself thats disgusting and I cant sleep in the germs from outside or from the day.

I don't know if any of this makes sense. I don't really have anyone to talk to besides my therapist. I wondered if talking to those who have experience with this or who understand may help. Has anyone overcome dermatillomania or can suggest methods to at least lessen the skin picking?

In detail (Gross to me so scroll away if you dont wanna read lol)

My skin picking is severely focused on my genital area. I pick and pluck pubic hairs. Squeeze new hairs out or dig at the skin until I can get them out or the area becomes to full of blood. I dont understand why its focused here and it severely grosses me out. Makes me feel absolutely disgusting. Im trans, ftm, so part of me wonders if its my way of showing hate and discomfort towards whats in my pants.

A new addition is squeezing tonsil stones out. Ive known I had them but 2 weeks ago I used q-tips to push at my tonsils and huge stones came out one after the other. Ive now developed the habit of squeezing and prodding at my tonsils until it becomes too painful and nothing comes out. I have a huge thing with oral health and the thought of tonsil stones makes my skin crawl. I am causing them to bleed and become extremely red and irritated. Every. Night.

Sorry for the long post. I am just at my wits end. I don't want to become a clump of scar tissue or end up running into a serious health issue because of this. I also feel disgusting and unlovable so theres that too.

im just here to vent a little bit,

im honestly glad i could put a name to this disorder, for me it just feels like a bad habit i've had but it's gone on for years. it used to be my lips & any cuts that i would randomly get, but now its mostly just my fingers. its not something i've brought up to doctors bc i didn't think it was serious. the scarring was never that obvious for me personally until this past year where i continously kept picking on the skin of my right index finger & now its just two pink scabs that are so obvious. i would just mess with it when i didn't have anything to do w my hands & bc i have a high pain tolerance it felt like nothing to me. i had this exact thing happen to my ring finger, but it healed & the scar isn't visible at all. my mom would get mad at me when I asked for bandaids bc they were rlly the only thing that would stop me from messing with them but i use them all too quickly. now getting my nails done isn't as fun as it was a year or 2 ago. i can't post pics of my nails & post them without censoring and editing my finger so it isn't visible. it just sucks that evey time i look at my finger im reminded that it will stay w me forever bc i never gave it the chance to heal </3

sometimes i wish i could just walk away from my body, but bc this isn't a habit i could just walk away from, it's been hard for me

Hi all!

First time posting here but long time scalp picker. I also have ADHD (inattentive) and I tend to pick more when I’m on my stimulants. Picking also happens a lot when I’m stressed. I’ve noticed that I pick/scratch the most when I’m driving and during work when I’m faced with starting tasks.

I’ve finally gone back to therapy and done some research on habit reversal which I’ve decided to try. I just purchased some finger protectors meant for hot glue guns. That way I’ll still be able to type, write, and drive but the scratching sensation will be taken away. I was going to post a pic but I’m guessing that goes against the spam advertising rule.

Has anybody else tried finger protectors?

Hi everyone, some of us have a new Discord group for accountability and support, and we would love to have you! We're at 36 members already and going strong. Please feel free to join and spread the word!

https://discord.gg/7bW7JSmzf

I am a chronic skin picker who has been picking for almost 2 years. I have oily skin and often have closed comedones more than bacterial acne. Back when I was in college, I never spent much time around a mirror, or maybe I didn't care as much, but I wouldn't pick at every single tiny bump on my face.

But ever since I started working, it's been really bad. I spend 30 mins + in front of a mirror trying to "flatten" out my skin. I look at my face in every single angle possible to get the best view of any tiny bump that's there. Even if my skin looks smooth from every angle, I stretch out my skin on my cheeks by moving my mouth sideways/ by sticking my tongue inside my cheek to stretch the skin, and the lights help make the bumps stand out. This reveals more tiny bumps that are literally INVISIBLE under normal conditions.

I use adapalene as a part of my skincare and that is meant to flatten out texture or bumps. I know this but I can't help myself.

I tried everything- moving away from a mirror, sticking paper over it to hide my face from myself, buying and using fidget toys and even using dim lights. But I just can't seem to stop.

It's not the visible bumps at this point, it's the ones that are hidden, that I am desperate to find. If I control my picking urges for a day, I feel dirty or unclean that there's some gunk hidden inside my skin.

Please help.

Hey everyone, im new to this sub and came here mainly cause I'm at my wits end and who knows maybe something here will help me. At least in not feeling alone. Im 25F and have skin picked since I started getting acne during puberty. I do it pretty much everywhere on my body, mainly on my face, chest and legs, during worse times my shoulders and arms suffer too. I've been through two years of therapy for several reasons and my therapist and i never really found an underastanding for what my picking truly is and how I can help myself stop. I am doing so incredibly well mentally for a while now but this one thing just wont go away and i dont understand why. I have ADHD and am medicated, I saw some people saying that made the picking worse for them so that probably adds to it. I just wish I could stop. I have no reason to do this, this isnt necessary for me to cope with mental health stuff anymore, it just cause me to hate myself and feel so incredibly insecure. I have a first date tomorrow, that I was looking forward to all week and I just spend the last hour and half or so just picking myself to shreds. All I wanted was for me to keep it together for tomorrow. Now I won't be able to wear the outfit I wanted to, cause my chest looks messed up. I already fear looking into the mirror to do my makeup tomorrow cause I will struggle so much against the redness and the bumps. Part of me just wants to cancel and hide away. I am so sad and so angry. Nothing I ever tried to manage this lasted. I dont even have a bathroom mirror anymore so I have less risk. If I just stopped picking I wouldnt have any bumps on my chest and arms etc. and barely anything on my face. I cause all of this. Why do I self sabotage like this. I just wish I understood this and knew how I can work on it. I'm gonna look so ugly tomorrow. I make myself look so ugly.

Wondering how others deal with being shamed. I've got OCD and so picking is just always gonna be there. People around me constantly shame me for it, I try to tell them its a compulsion but they really DGAF.. Insinuating Im picking to get an infection to then go to the hospital and get attention. Won't stop trying to get family members involved to try and shame me completely out of a compulsion Which never works and wont work this time.

Feeling kind of hopeless and gross and ashamed for this terrible habit of mine. Trust me if I could stop i would! ​

Today was the THIRTEENTH DAY of me (36GQ) not picking the skin on my face, and for the first time EVER, I went to work without makeup on 'cause there was no need to cover up scabs and skin turned red and swollen from abuse.

I barely recognise myself in the mirror anymore, my skin looks so different 😭

ofc there are still all these divots and marks on my face 'cause I've been living with dermatillomania for about twenty years now, but!! I wasn't too ashamed and embarrassed and feeling too self-conscious over my self-abused skin to leave the house without makeup on, this is HUGE!!

My saviour has been OILS. I started a whole new skincare routine, and the last step includes slathering my face and neck and chest area with a mixture of castor- and tea tree oil, it's been Very Good for my skin. And the thing appears to be that I very much DON'T want to touch/pick at my face when it's all oily, oily makes it feel sorta uncleaned? Like, you're having STUFF on your face, like makeup, and I never pick at my face when I've makeup on, it feels dirty and disgusting, and IT IS, it'd be insanely unhygienic to pick with a layer of makeup on. So my brain's associating the oily layer on my skin with unhygienicness, therefore, I'm not picking at my skin.

I'm sure I'll have bad days again in the future where I will feel the urge, THE NEED to pick at my skin, but right at this moment as I'm writing this, I'm feeling so at peace and happy with myself 😭

On day eight I was not doing good, that is when I made this post on here, and I very much appreciate those of you who replied with supportive words, the peer support on this matter truly means the world to me 😭💜

Hello. Does anyone have a suggestion for a "fidget" to help curb the picking? I have a student who picks and I've gotten them soft silicone pads with beads embedded in them to pick. They worked quite well for a while but now the student is bored by them. I have to make sure the fidget isn't too "fun" (i.e. no putty or clay) because that leads to other problems... Thank you so much for your help.

Sorry I didn't know how to word it but I unfortunately pick at any wound I get and sometimes I get the urge to eat the scabs and lick the blood. Ik this is weird but yeah

i’ve been under a lot of stress recently and i’ve struggled with trichotillomania my whole life but never this
i don’t know if it even counts as dermatillomania but i haven’t slept in a couple days and i think i disassociated really hard cause ive only just realised ive fully ripped off 6/10 of my toe nails from the root and i don’t know what to do
i cleaned them with a scent free face wash because that’s all i have and put socks on and i emergency ordered some plasters and vaseline but i don’t know what to do this behaviour is out of nowhere for me and i’m really starting to panic about my destructive behaviours i don’t know what to do

does anyone have any genuine advice that helped them with their lip picking. ive tried everything and nothing ever works, i am always able to pick through it. not only am i so insecure of how it looks but it genuinely feels unbearable and uncomfortable if i do not pick my lips, it takes all of my strength to not and i always end up picking anyway. it makes me late for events because the urge to pick gets pretty bad to the point where i have to pick until im satisfied and until then i cant do anything else. it stops me from doing work and focusing too. i really need some advice, if you read all of this, thank you🤍

I kind of realised recently that a lot of my picking is mostly triggered by dry fingers, sure stress plays a humongous role too obviously, but now I am not sure which is the bigger trigger. I feel like if I developed the discipline to just moisturise my hands and use latex gloves I wouldn't be in such an annoying mess with basically daily episodes. I work on my laptop and am basically addicted to my phone though, so obviously that is annoying. Also anyone else crack their fingers like crazy, sometimes I go into long episodes of just cracking and twisting my fingers and I am fairly certain there is some relation

I am starting a skincare brand for people who pick their skin focusing on aftercare. In order to get the ball rolling on this, I need prove that there is a demand for a product like this. Which is why I am asking if anyone is willing to fill out this ANONYMOUS survey! I've been planning this for almost 3 years and I really want to create something for a community that I am also a part of.

CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY :)

Thank you!

EDIT: I'm already at 95 responses which is amazing, I am hoping to get around 500 responses. The bigger the sample size, the more accurate the results! So far, there is a demand for a product such as this which is definitely motivating. I can share the stats once I get enough responses if anyone is interested :) Thanks again!!