Skin picking/ Nail biting

[SpaceRaiders]

Posting here for traffic, does anyone have any experience with body-focused repetitive behaviour?

DD9 is going through a particularly bad time with skin picking on her face and I noticed shes started on her leg too. She already has scars which won’t heal because the scabs don’t stay on for long before she finds them.

I’m looking for strategies to divert her attention away from the picking in particular as she’s getting distressed by how many scars she’s accumulating. Obviously I never draw attention to them but I do take her hands away from her face when I find her doing it. I don’t even know if I should be doing that tbh. But any words of advice?

The condition is called dermatillomania, which may help you to research it.

Dermatillomania

I do the same as your daughter. Sometimes I put sticking plasters over scabs to stop me. Fabric sticking plasters are harder to get off than waterproof plasters.

Have you tried Spray plaster?. It covers the scab without an obvious plaster. Obviously it can be picked off, but it might slow things down long enough to allow some healing.

Have you tried fidget toys? I have got a fidget ring which helps somewhat.

Thank you @Gymnopedie I didn’t realise there was a name for it.

I’ve been trying to figure out what’s been triggering it. She’s a chronic nail biter anyways but the skin picking has only started in the last 18 months or so. I suspect hers is ADHD related or maybe even OCD, she’s not officially diagnosed with either yet. She really can’t help herself and it’s completely heartbreaking to see her so distressed with it.

@ISeeARedDoorAndIWantToBreakIn Do you mind me asking, have you always done so? And have noticed any triggers when it’s particularly worse? I’ve been putting those colourful little facial plasters on her, just to keep fingers off her face but invariably they fall off and she back to it again.

@PastTheGin She already has some fitget toys, perhaps I’ll get her some more. But I must admit she doesn’t use them when she’s watching tv which seems like when a lot of the picking happens.

Watching with interest as I have developed skin picking/ biting about 12 months ago. Mine was triggered by a stressful event.

I’ve had dermotillamania as long as I can remember. I think it’s genetic, my dad is the same. I’ve not tried them but the OCD drugs are meant to be amazing.

Is the picking her solution, not the problem?

I do it and my very anxious child does too. I feel ashamed of it. I find it very soothing and just want to get rid of any bumps in the skin. Today I ripped 1cm of skin off my thumb absentmindedly while bored at work.

the best solution I’ve found is to have very few bumps, that means moisturising numerous times a day. If there is no dry skin to pick off I don’t start.

I am also rarely aware of it, so it’s not really conscious, if you know what I mean.

Get a fidget cube or similar and help her recognise when she's starting to pick and put the cube into her hands/encourage her to play with it.

For face and her scalp (some bold spots that took a long time to grow hair again), I've used surgical tape over night/at home. Just to give it a break and certainly seemed to help once it got past a certain point in healing

I do it too but is mainly limited to fingers and nails unless I get a scab for any other reason.

@VentBox Sorry I don’t quite understand what you’re asking. She’s Autistic and ADHD, quite possibly something else but I don’t know what. She’s getting her diagnosis in the autumn.

She is highly anxious gets overwhelmed easily, masks a lot but is generally happy and confident within herself.

@Gettinagoldtoof that must be so hard. You mustn’t feel ashamed. I can see Dd heading that way too. Kids at school have occasionally asked her why she has multiple plasters on her face and she’s becoming more self conscious. I just wish I could help her somehow.

Anyone had any success with treatment?

www.scratchsleeves.co.uk/shop/en/products/291-1056-adult-supersensitive.html#/87-colour-dye_free/95-size-medium

Might help to break the cycle?

Skin picking in autism This might give you some ideas OP.

I do this and have done this since a child but it's limited to picking the skin around both thumb nails. I've actually been doing it for the last hour semi consciously. I get a sense of satisfaction a lot of the times but I do it mainly when I'm bored, when I'm nervous, when I'm over thinking and when trying to drift of at night. I don't know why this is my coping mechanism in these instances but I'm just too old now to try and change this behaviour. The only time I have a break from doing it is when I cut my fingernails as I need the thumb nails to be big enough to get the stimulation from it.

Fidget rings helped me greatly with my skin picking on my thumbs. You can get spinner rings that are almost solid and look like regular rings, but they spin - discreet for that kind of compulsive behaviour. There are probably bracelets and necklaces that offer the same purpose - look on etsy, a huge amount of people who stim in this way and who create wearables to help with such things.

For nail biting - does she maybe want to have her nails done? I always found as a teen that having my nails done stopped me from biting, if only to stop getting polish in my teeth. Now I wear nail wraps or gel nails (done at home, kits are inexpensive) which make it harder to bite.

Best of luck!

What about some plasticine/blue tac/playdough to roll around when watching TV, or maybe adult colouring books.

I have always skin picked. I find it tends to happen during periods of stress or when I'm tired. It is almost entirely unconscious - I start each 'session' unconsciously, but sometimes notice partway through. By the time I notice I am unable to stop myself until the scabs are off, although usually I only realise what I've done when I notice it's sore or my nails and fingers are bloody. I had one scab on my shoulder for about 2 years.
The only thing I've found to work is regularly coating the scabs in Vaseline a few times a day. It removes any dryness/tightness from the scab, which can cause me to attack it too, but most importantly stops my nails managing to get any grip on the scab. It removes all the satisfaction. The issue is remembering to put the Vaseline on...

I used to pick around my nails, especially my thumbs, and bite my nails and any edge of cuticle I could get a grip on.

Also picked at any scabs/cuts I happened to get.

I have only stopped since I started to regularly get my nails done with shellac or gels. The thicker coating makes my nails too awkward to pick at skin.

Obviously it might not be a solution for a child but if she got her nails painted during summer holidays, it might give her skin time to heal and for her to build new habits like fidget toys

This is me, I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. I spoke with my GP about it and also my counsellor many years ago but they didn’t say anything about it or suggest any techniques.

I do it more so when I’m stressed/anxious. I try and preoccupy my hands. Techniques I’ve found help:

-play with play doh. I roll into tiny little balls
-colouring in
-diamond art
-fidget toys

anything to keep my hands busy

I've picked at my skin all my life and I don't know how/why it started. As I've got older, I've realised that putting a moisturising cream or oil on the scabs or skin has really helped. I really try hard to apply this rather than picking and it helps me to not pick. It even seems to help the healing of the skin. Lately I've been quickly using a roll-on cuticle oil on my scabs (on my legs and arms) and this has helped - I wait for the oil to soak in and the application is quick and easy. For any current scars, split open vitamin E capsules applied to the scar area seem to help too. Picking is such a hard habit to break and I think replacing the picking with a different (but beneficial) habit is the way to go.

DS has always done it, to the extent that he's needed antibiotics and school have contacted me with concerns about marks on his skin. It appears to be sensory seeking as a result of anxiety but it also seems to be a habit and that he genuinely enjoys it in some way.

I have always been a nail biter a big part is habitual and it's really hard to break a habit, another part for me is that biting my nails makes them ragged and the skin around the nail broken, that then drives me to bite them to even them out, get rid of the rough bits, which makes them more ragged and rough, which makes me bite them more.....

Finally at 39yo, after having bitten my nails since I had teeth I've been able to stop this year, I haven't bitten them for months and it was because I started taken care of them. I used cuticle oils, had hand cream everywhere and would put it on constantly to stop the dry bits of skin feeling rough, I painted them and while they looked crap at first they gradually started to look better.