Skin-picking

[tellus]

I have dermatotillomania, a cousin of trichotillomania. It's not DSM-recognized, but I believe it's a real disorder.

Basically, I pick. Any rough edge on my skin, any little scrape or cut, I have to pick at it. I pull at any rough edges until it's either smooth or bleeding so badly that I can't pick at it anymore. I haven't worn shorts in years because the scars on my legs are so bad.

Does anyone else have experience with this? If so, how do you deter yourself from doing it?

(I have mentioned this to various doctors, but they invariably ignore it. Literally, they don't even acknowledge that I've said anything, they just move on to the next subject. One doctor will occasionally ask "how's the picking?" but he's never offered any advice towards trying to stop it.)

[reader]

I have trich but have heard of compulsive skin picking. I sometimes visit a forum for ocd. Try googling ocd forum and maybe someone there has a treatment suggestion. I have not found a specific med. to be helpful for myself but there maybe one out there. Good luck and just know your not alone in this.

[tanyapmc]

I use to have little sores on my scalp that I picked at until they bled. I don't have then anymore. I guess it was an OCD trait. Be careful though. I ended up with a staph infection from picking them.

[shutterbug]

I'm a "picker" as my ex use to call me to try to make me feel ashamed. I'm worst on from my belly button up, mainly my head and arms. I will pick things that arn't even just rough edges, but also bumps.

Some will tell me it's part of OCD and others say just anxiety. Either way....I just got put on Abilify and even at just 10 mg i can REALLY tell it's working to help with my picking (even though not the reason i'm on it). My face is nearly cleared up and it was totally trashed just a couple weeks ago from my tearing into it constantly.

Also, if you are a girl and can afford it, i've found that it helped a little when i had acrylic nails...b/c they were thicker than my normal nails and makes it a little harder to pick. If you're a guy you could just put a coat over your nails to thicken them b/c it is basically clear when it dries and wouldn't be toooo hard for you to learn how to do on your own if you watched some nail techs do it a few times.

anyway...just thought i'd share.

hugs and welcome,
jenna

[pedagogue]

It is a common OCD tendency and also a type of self-harm. Your docs really dropped the ball on this, since it can really be problematic (increased chance of infection, possible escalation to other self harm behaviors, etc). I'd ask them specifically for help, or ask for a referral to someone who could help.

-p

[shutterbug]

oh....i forgot to mention that it is more common that most realize. i'm in a day treatment program right now and one night me and 2 of the girls hung out and ended up talking and opening up about really personal things and this topic was once of them. We discovered that ALL 3 of us do it!!! One girl does like you and picks her legs too...she has huge sores on her legs and stomach. i just wanted to let you know you are not alone in that at all.

Why docs glaze over it....i'll never understand b/c it's a huge self-esteem issue for me to walk around with my face all torn to shreds all the time when i'm depressed.

[tellus]

Originally Posted by shutterbug

I'm a "picker" as my ex use to call me to try to make me feel ashamed. I'm worst on from my belly button up, mainly my head and arms. I will pick things that arn't even just rough edges, but also bumps.

Some will tell me it's part of OCD and others say just anxiety. Either way....I just got put on Abilify and even at just 10 mg i can REALLY tell it's working to help with my picking (even though not the reason i'm on it). My face is nearly cleared up and it was totally trashed just a couple weeks ago from my tearing into it constantly.

Also, if you are a girl and can afford it, i've found that it helped a little when i had acrylic nails...b/c they were thicker than my normal nails and makes it a little harder to pick. If you're a guy you could just put a coat over your nails to thicken them b/c it is basically clear when it dries and wouldn't be toooo hard for you to learn how to do on your own if you watched some nail techs do it a few times.

anyway...just thought i'd share.

hugs and welcome,
jenna

That's the other thing I can't get across to the doctors: they won't even consider an OCD diagnosis.

My problem areas are my legs and back, and scalp to a degree, mostly because they're easy to cover. (Though I have found that not shaving my legs helps a lot: fewer little bumps to pick at!)

I'm definitely not the type to wear fake nails, but I'll try a clearcoat. I've never been good at painting my own nails, but you can't screw up a clearcoat too badly. Thanks for the tip!

[shutterbug]

Btw....i've been picking/scratching since around 10 years old...and so had the other girls.

[tellus]

Originally Posted by shutterbug

Btw....i've been picking/scratching since around 10 years old...and so had the other girls.

It started in high school for me, right around the time I was diagnosed with MDD and anxiety.

Do you know, is it mostly girls/women who have this issue?

[shutterbug]

they only consider it to be OCD-ish, which i can kind of understand. And it also is closer related, i think, to self-harm issues that Peda mentioned. Mine is very much carried out like that of self-injuring such as cutting...only thing is that i don't need any blades...just my nails...so i can do it just about anywhere anytime. i WISH i only did it on places where people couldn't see! There are times when my scalp is so tore up that i won't go get a haircut or anything because i don't want ANYONE seeing it or thinking i've got some disease or something.

[shutterbug]

I don't think it is mostly girls, but i could be wrong. I've seen guys who've had the same as me...and there are even actors on t.v. you can tell who really tore up their faces when younger.

i think it is childhood/trama based though. Were you by chance sexually molested or go through a big trama in high school or earlier? MDD....Major Depressive Disorder? Me too. You do realize that you are most likely bipolar as well if that is your diagnosis right?

Not only that, but OCD tends to runs hand-in-hand with bipolar disorder.

Soooooo many people have too hard a time accepting a bipolar diagnosis, but i'd bet just about anything that you are suffereing from it and not aware the affects it's having on your life.

[tellus]

Originally Posted by shutterbug

I don't think it is mostly girls, but i could be wrong. I've seen guys who've had the same as me...and there are even actors on t.v. you can tell who really tore up their faces when younger.

i think it is childhood/trama based though. Were you by chance sexually molested or go through a big trama in high school or earlier? MDD....Major Depressive Disorder? Me too. You do realize that you are most likely bipolar as well if that is your diagnosis right?

Not only that, but OCD tends to runs hand-in-hand with bipolar disorder.

Soooooo many people have too hard a time accepting a bipolar diagnosis, but i'd bet just about anything that you are suffereing from it and not aware the affects it's having on your life.

At the time of my diagnosis, we thought that my mother's breast cancer was the trigger for my depression (I was ~13 when she was diagnosed). Does that count as trauma? I certainly wasn't abused or anything like that.

Re: bipolar, that's been ruled out repeatedly. I don't have the manic periods. I've got depression, anxiety, and addiction, but not bipolar.

[liveweyerd]

I would surely count that as traumatic and maybe especially so at that age.

[shutterbug]

what about hypomania though?

And i agree with Live. that would be traumatic.

[tellus]

Hypomania? I'm not familiar with that term.

It was traumatic, I guess, but not overly. She caught it very early and it was clear from the beginning that she was going to recover. Now, as I think about it, my father's Parkinson's has probably been the biggest trauma.

Is OCD linked to addictive behaviors, do you know?

[shutterbug]

Around 85 percent of bipolars are addicted to alcohol or drugs and since a large percentage of bipolars have OCD issues.....then basically, yes.

hypomania is what most people don't realize they are going through until they get a really good understanding of it. Google bipolar II symptoms. Bipolar I is the most severe form of the illness with the full-blown mania and full blown depressions...bipolar II (like myself) are often rapid cyclers and we only have hypomanias which is basically just like being very motivated at times and having energy to do things mentally or physically and that's where sleep disterbances come in.

Actually, probably googling "hypomania" would be the best way to learn about it. That's why most people don't see or learn they are bipolar is because they don't realize what it is or that it's happening to them (because it feels good and happy....especially if you've been depressed for a while). Then I'd suggest googling (bipolar AND "rapid cycling") just exactly like that except without the () parenthesis.

[cinderellawkids]

When I was 10 and my parents were getting a divorce I started pulling out pieces of hair on my head. It became extremely compulsive and took a lot of mental self teaching to stop, thought no more about it eventually.

Now when Im extremely anxious and generally about to fly into either rage or serious depression I start with scratshing and find a place on my skin to pick at, I rapid cycle so its quick, lately Ive caught my 10 year old son showing anxiety symptoms and in an extremely emotional time.... he does the same thing.

To combat we keep our nails short (or me acrylic overlay) and when a sore is started we bandage, or we'll never let it go. Also Euceryn(sp) cream to keep our skin from having dry and/or rough spots.

[bluebellgirl]

i scratch my legs till they bleed and i also pick the sides of my cuticles till they bleed and get stressed when there's nothing left to pick. its horrible and compulsive.. i've never talked to anyone about it.
i know i do it cos of anxiety and it started when i was really young when my father was violent physically and emotionally and when i was sexually abused.

[nolonger]

Good thread. Thanks for bringing this up, tellus.

I have a mild version of this - pick my hands like crazy, and it has gotten worse since i stopped drinking and smoking. Sometimes it gets so bad, my thumbs are down to bare flesh right around almost to the pad. I try to put skin-crack liquid on them, but that seems to make them even more tempting to pick at. It is a pure nervous habit - when I'm more chilled out and not so anxious, it goes away. I wish I could stop though.

[nolonger]

My mother used to do exactly the same thing when I was younger. Somewhere along the line she stopped, and I started...

[reader]

I found that forum I had mentioned~~ SAID stuck in a doorway. Very interest place and info.......

[shugabooga]

thank god i found you all here!! i've been doing this since i was a little girl! my dad used to do it and my mom would yell at him about it....then i started doing it, probably to get her attention. i used to bite my nails, but my mom said i couldn't go to the DONNY OSMOND concert if i didn't stop, so i stopped but instead started just splitting and picking at my nails.

i, too, mentioned it to my psychiatrist and he basically blew it off. i've always thought it must be a form of self-harm akin to cutting.

now i am learning more, thanks to all of you. what, ultimately, should/can be done about it? i guess i have to ask myself if i am bipolar II...and do I need to find a special psychiatrist and go back on meds? i was on zoloft/trazadone for five years and never stopped the picking. my psychiatrist was indifferent to me...i think he just wanted the money and i just wanted the meds.

one of you mentioned staph infection.........that is scary. i'm going to go wash my hair right now.......!!!

btw, i'm five weeks sober, and the picking has decreased. but i can't see myself ever stopping totally!

honestly, I LOVE DOING IT. I'M SO WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[reader]

You are not weird at all, I enjoy playing with my hair. I go into a relaxed state and often don't even know I am doing it. I am over a couple weeks with out pulling at it and I actually had to up my meds. to deal with the loss of my coping mechanism. So far so good but damn I miss it but I was thinning my hair out in one spot so I had to stop. Take care, Shug.......

[butterflylover]

Originally Posted by tellus

I have dermatotillomania, a cousin of trichotillomania. It's not DSM-recognized, but I believe it's a real disorder.

Basically, I pick. Any rough edge on my skin, any little scrape or cut, I have to pick at it. I pull at any rough edges until it's either smooth or bleeding so badly that I can't pick at it anymore. I haven't worn shorts in years because the scars on my legs are so bad.

Does anyone else have experience with this? If so, how do you deter yourself from doing it?

(I have mentioned this to various doctors, but they invariably ignore it. Literally, they don't even acknowledge that I've said anything, they just move on to the next subject. One doctor will occasionally ask "how's the picking?" but he's never offered any advice towards trying to stop it.)

Hi tellus! I hope all is well. I posted a reply but I don't know where it went, lol, so I'm gonna post again. I'm also a picker...have been since I was around 8-10 years old. The Doctors call it CSP (Compulsive Skin Picking). I'll pick at anything I can. I pick my scalp very badly. That's the main place I pick at. I'll have the same sore on my head for literally 6 months because I just can't stop. I have 4 as we speak. I just subconsciously do it. I also have scars from picking. I hate going to get a haircut because of the sores. It's embarassing.

I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (mmainly obsessive). I use to great OCD web sites that are very helpful. They help me realize that I'm not the only one out there that has OCD and CSP. I'll post the links to both. They both have forums for CSP and Trich. It should be in the 'OCD Spectrum' forum. Registering is free for both sites. It's really worth checking them out. I hope the sites help. Best wishes.

Here are the links:

http://forums.stuckinadoorway.org/index.php

http://www.ocdforums.org/

[tellus]

Sorry to bump this up, but I'm still struggling. My anxiety was really high today (holiday season in retail), and I started picking at my face. If I could even just limit the picking to my legs it'd be better.