Dermatillomania?

Post Reply New Topic

It doesn't hurt unless I get carried away and start picking at fresh skin (which someone mentioned earlier in the thread). Though I think I always end up doing that. I also do dig into my foot with the knowledge that I'll be drawing blood.

All my life. Mostly pick at mosquito bites, as I live in the tropics. Things improved greatly when I moved to Texas, but as soon as I moved back, there I was again. Then again, it probably is also related to wearing more pants/working, etc. in Texas vs. not working/wearing shorts in the tropics.

Also do it with my cuticles and around my nails.

After the skin I started with my scalp I can't stop. I try and try, but I can't.

I have only had a couple of major scares where I caught MRSA because of it Sadly, after a while, I went right back to it.

My son who is diagnosed PDD-NOS, HFA or AS, depending on who you ask lol, used to pick at his scabs too. Somehow he stopped. I am now noticing his lips are always dry and I continue to bug him to put something on his lips. Sometimes they look a bit bloody. I worry about it, but I know a psychologist will just give him meds and not sure that will really help. Looking for a way to help him.

PS my mother, whom I suspect is on the spectrum or maybe combo AS/ADHD, has always done the same, but just to her face...ugh

I have always picked at scabs - squeezed spots, I used to peel skin off the bottoms of my feet and often as the strip got thicker it would hurt as I was taking fresh skin off - haven't done that for years now. The bits around my finger nails are usually a bit scabby where I have peeled the skin off. My shoulders are a favourite sot at the moment as it is easy to access but I scratch at the scabs all the time in meetings included so it must look a bit odd. My scalp gets some attention too but I am trying to stop that one

I know they take longer to heal but it is a compulsion

I did when I was a kid but I had bad skin eczema which made me itch & being stressed out alot & frustrated alot made me want to scratch too.

I've picked and bitten at my nails and the skin around them since I was a kid. I bite the insides of my lips and cheeks, too.

I do it when I'm particularly stressed or overwhelmed with things, and often it will stop me from getting things done because it's such a compulsion and I can't stop.

I always forget these days, but a few years ago I had a related tick, trichotillomania. Pulling/picking at my hair whenever I got anxious. I've mostly stopped doing it these days but every once in a while I catch myself pulling on my hair. It got so bad at one point that a bald spot on the side of my head was starting to become visible, that's when my family noticed and then they started hounding me about it whenever they caught me doing it. I hated it then, but I'm semi grateful now.

I developed dermatillomania when I was twelve and it's still a problem. I have good days and bad days. When people tell me to stop picking it annoys me and I tell them it's okay because it doesn't hurt me (and most times it really doesn't). But when I see anyone else pick, read about others picking and see photos of it, it makes me feel faint and think 'that looks so painful'. I wonder if that could be a way of stopping me picking - by looking at a photo or reading about someone else doing it when I get the urge? Might try it.

I am covered in scars from skin my skin/scab picking. I don't like it but I can't stop. It started as a kid picking at scabs till they bled, they they re-stabbed and I'd pick again. I also would pick my scalp when it itched till it bleed and then that would scab but I'm a bit better these days with that.

I pick my lips too, I will pull at them until they feel smooth even if I rip off a whole layer of semi healed skin and it bleeds. My husband hates it and tries to stop me but I get angry with him and say I have to do it. I chew the inside of my mouth but not as much as I used to.