4yo scarring own face by picking at cuts

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DS is just 4yo, so too old to put scratch mitts on (I think?).
If he gets even the smallest scratch or cut on his face, he picks at it. It's a comfort habit & he especially does it just after waking up or if he's upset about something. So it never heals & tends to get bigger, or if it does heal, it scars. :(

I've tried giving him chapstick, creams, and all sorts to put on instead, and he used to put them on, but they didn't stop him completely from picking at his face. He's totally a creature of habit & just likes his comfort tic. Obviously I stop him if I see him, and I try to watch out for him picking, but I can't be there 24/7 to see what he's doing. And it only takes a minute or 2 a day of picking to destroy scabs & contribute to scarring.

Any ideas? Should I take this problem to the GP? What could GP do that I haven't tried? I kept hoping DS would outgrow it, but no luck. :(.

keep his nails very very short

make it your mission to solve the problem, should only take a week or so and you will need to tail him everywhere

concentrate hard on keeping his hands busy the whole time, follow him around and even if you dont need something doing give him little jobs eg take all the spoons out of the draw and clean them

use an reward/incentive scheme as well as he is old enough for it - eg, now youre a big boy we are going to have some stickers/star chart or whatever. Whenever you dont scratch for (insert a length of time you think he can do cos you need him to win the stickers) you can choose a sticker . Might be 10 times a day to start with but you can gradually reduce it.

I would probably also add some kind of sensory body experience to his day eg buy some body cream and help him to firmly sqeeze it into his legs say twice a day

I just managed to cut his thumb getting nails short, big plaster. They weren't that long anyway, but good idea. I should have thought of nail trimming . That might help a lot.

I appreciate the other ideas & see what you're saying about incentives but he's immature & would struggle to understand & would not be that motivated, we are completely failing to get him to eat new veg or fruit with a similar incentive scheme at the moment. Plus I can't tell from one day to next if he's scratched or not (I think, though maybe I could with high quality digital pictures on the telly, could try that, maybe). I have to realistic & know that I can't hover 24/7, the logistics are impossible.

He already has creams & chopsticks (expensive, he keeps losing). They aren't cutting it, alas.

As above, short nails- could file them every night when he does his teeth maybe- then they'd be short and smooth.

Keep hands busy- the usual question or 4-5yr old boys is " he has his hands down his pants all the time".... same strategies really.

GP can't do anything that you can't- you have the "power" to modify his behaviour.

If you are struggling with the keeping hands busy I'd maybe let him have some "forbidden fruit"- for me it'd be a game on the iphone to distract him.

Ultimately chill a bit. Scars from simple picked scabs at 4 are really really unlikely to be noticeable when he's grown up, and they'll be amongst sporting injuries and acne scars too!