what is the picking of the face?
 

my ah is always picking his face. it used to be that he would break out and he would pick the pimples. but even when there is no pimple there he still picks at his face. He picks at the scabs and the other marks and even uses a tweezer to pick at them. Then he covers it with make-up. he does this several times a day.

Is this part of a mental illness maybe, caused by the drugs??? anxiety??

Hello. Could be Meth. I have seen quite a few documentaries about meth and almost all of the addicts will say they pick at their faces. Meth is VERY dangerous!! I hope that is not it. Is there a history of drug abuse?

Could be meth or coke, but I used to do this too and I wasn't on any hard drugs. It was a obsessive thing. My ex used to come in the bathroom and stop me or I;d do it so much I'd scab up my own face. Really.

Picking of the face is also called Meth Lice,
usually when one is using you will see the
wounded face or a collapsed jaw. Meth is
also like taking a Super Sudafed which will
dry the gums and another sign is grinding of
the teeth. It will also dry the skin and this is
often associated with Meth Use and therefore
will case the addict to pick the face, I have
even hear that they will pick out the crystal
substance as it is Meth and will re-smoke it.
Not pretty but one of the facts of meth use.

Speed, Meth and those kind of drugs make people extremely obsessive about picking their face and their arms and just about every pore on their body.
It's part of the whole drug issue.

Coke, meth, heroin will all make you pick.

My exah does that, too. He will pick at his face, his chest, his arm, etc. He has scars from it.

Then again, the opiates make you itchy and I always thought maybe that had something to do with it in the beginning, but I think in his case it was just a nasty habit; I know he never used meth. His DOC went in the other direction...

My SO does this too. It is an anxiety based thing for him since it started before his addiction though.

Since not everyone who is an addict picks even though they may be using the same drug, it must have something to do with added anxiety. I know my daughter's abf does a lot of crack and to my knowledge has never picked at himself, whereas my daughter does the opiates and goes through periods of picking and at other times nothing. But she has the tendency to have OCD even when not using. Hugs, Marle

My XAH's doc is codeine. He also picks, but it's usually on his arms. If he gets a sore place, he lets it scab then picks it. I think it may have something to do with the "itchies" they get from codeine. He also has always been a high-energy person, so it may just be a nervous habit that's been intensified because of the codeine.

I used to spend an hour at a time in front of the bathroom mirror picking at my face, back, legs, chest, etc. back when I used heroin.
I still have a habit of messing with blemishes on my face, but I usually catch myself when I feel that impulse to mess with them.

My daughter's drug of choice is meth...when she was active in her use, she would spend up to two hours in the bathroom picking at her face. But when she was REALLY bad, she started digging at her arms with paperclips....pins... whatever she could find. She said it felt like bugs crawling under her skin.

The long-term meth users in my town are almost always fairly scarred up, their teeth are mostly gone and they tend to look very much alike.

:( It is not a good thing.

Meth users will scratch and pick. My xagf complexion was fine. I think it just depends on the person and the drugs brings out the worst in them. Here is a link of meth users from a paper. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/orego....ata?g_id=2927