Please help me to stop picking my face!

[PoppySausage]

How do I stop? I have been doing it for 20 years and I cannot carry on like this, constantly trying to cover up big holes I have picked in my face. It is awful.

I have just made such a mess of my face

Is it compulsive? You could try NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) which is a supplement that you can buy online or in most health food shops; www.trich.org/dnld/NACarticle_InTouch55_rev.pdf

You could also try inositol (a B vitamin) which at high doses can be successful for OCD like behaviour; www.researchgate.net/profile/Dan_Stein3/publication/12095835_Inositol_in_the_treatment_of_trichotillomania_and_compulsive_skin_picking/links/0c96051fb6893a3ffc000000.pdf You can also buy this anywhere and you can buy it in bulk powder online.

I hope you find some relief!

Brilliant, I hadn't heard of either, thank you!!

Yes I think it is compulsive. I cannot stop doing it although i know how miserable it makes me. My brain is screaming for me to stop and my hands just don't. That sounds odd but it's like I'm picking out imperfections but in reality I know I am creating imperfections and scars

This is a medical condition, but I can't remember the name of it right now. I'll be back if I can think of it.

Go to your GP in the first instance, but consider CBT.

Can you distract your hands? Knitting? Crosswords? Anything?

And try some lavender oil diluted in bio oil for relief from the itching as your skin heals and to help with the scarring.

What's your skin care regime like? If you started to take really good care of your skin, would it help do you think?

Sounds very difficult. Hope you manage to sort it out.

Would love to know the answer to this - I do this too

Reading for advice.

I do this when stressed or bored. I create spots and scars. Can get engrossed for ages squeezing and picking. I can't stop!

I have wondered if I really take care of my skin I may become proud of it, but have never really tried. It's really hard, I can't link it directly to anxiety, or stress as I do it whatever. I have read about acne ecruee (spelling alert!) and it rings true for me.

Do you really think gp? Didn't really think about it. So embarrassing and I am bloody 33. Everyone thinks I have acne but it is all self inflicted

I also pick, really pick, deep to blood and I have scars all over my face. I feel any tiny little imperfection and I attack it.

I can't even seem to stop when I know I'm going out somewhere. I sometimes do it more and then curse myself

I think it is compulsive. If I try and stop I can feel the panic rise and my hands are itching! Literally have to clench my fists.

I don't really like New Years resolutions but maybe trying to stop this is a good one.

Nice to know you others are out there too.

Ok sounds stupid but could you put a face mask on if you know you're going out somewhere?

Then 30 mins (or whatever) before you have to leave you could remove it and put your make up on?

Haven't really got advice to give you but have been there through most of my teenage years. Would pick spots, blackheads, ingrown hairs, would even pluck and pick until I got a hair out (eyebrows and navel) not caring how big of a hole I left. I found the more I focused on it, the more I would have that urge. And because I was in that picky mood I'd find more to pick, even if nothing was there.
Nowadays I don't really pick much at all, I'll have the odd squeeze or pluck BUT have learnt to stop if I'm having no success. God knows how as I remember only too well the irritability if I couldn't get on with it or nothing came out.
I don't know how I got here though so don't really know what to tell you. I think if you can get to that place where you haven't picked for a few days and skins healing nicely I think that will help you refrain from picking more.

Have a look at a website called trich.org

If you identify with the descriptions, you may have a form of trichotrillomania. Worth going to the GP, you should be able to get a referral for some CBT if you want to.

Face mask idea is good, funny actually I had a peel off one on tonight and dp said I should use those when I want to pick as peeling them off is very satisfying.

Unfortunately I think this is a type of self harm in my case, it's a release and I am thinking the gp may be the most sensible option

Thanks confused. I had 3 weeks over halloween where I didn't pick and felt amazing. I need to remember that feeling.

Thanks for the website link, heading over there now

Dear OP, what you describe is probably skin picking disorder, also known as dermotillomania. There is a fact sheet here. Please do see your GP, I suggest printing and taking with you the sheet I linked to, and ask for referral for specialist help.

this is really common. I dont have a lot of advice as im a compulsive spot picker although i mainly pick at my legs these days or dps spots. Ive got a lot better. Also used to pull out my hair and eyebrows but managed to stop that somehow.
Its a form of OCD so its not something you can just stop, because its a coping mechanism for anxiety

Sudocream is a great idea, trying that tonight. I also don't know I have done it until I see blood some days. So so confusing, and it hasn't bothered me too much until the last year or so. I just sort of accepted I did it but I don't want to any more.

I do have self destructive tendencies, just in the sense that I ignore what I know is the best option

Branleuse - this is why i feel stupid, I can't stop and even the great skin I had didn't keep me off the picking. Dp hates it but is very supportive of any small success. Even if I have no spots I make them, pick skin, pull fine hairs

I have managed to tell a close friend which felt good but now when I see her and I have a sore face I feel embarrassed

I work in mental health and what you describe is not uncommon. Psychological therapy could really help, in most areas you can self refer if you don't want to speak to your gp?

i used to make ones that werent there too

I think try to work on the anxiety and ocd as a whole thing rather than concentrate on your skin because that is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself.

Oh goodness I do this constantly. My parents have been telling me off about it since I was little, always calling attention to my sore skin when I'd really been at it. As a result I feel quite rotten about doing it and if I get a spot I feel like it's my fault, like it's really shameful, why can't I just make a small effort to curb this silly urge. It does seem to be linked to stress. If I'm say working under a school deadline something I'll be trying to type but feeling like I MUST run my hands over my face to check for "possibilities" at the same time so it gets complicated
I also constantly rip the skin off inside my mouth with my teeth....sometimes it's the only way I can keep still, it's a way of fidgeting.
But it's not just that, if e.g. a hair touches my face gently, it feels like it stings and then the area around it starts itching like it's hypersensitive. I feel like I have to constantly sit on my hands or I'd be constantly touching my face to stop the itching. So obviously I'm transferring grease and nasty stuff there from my hands all the time. Does anyone get this sensitive skin thing?
I don't have like, fungal skin conditions on my face or anything! (not to make anyone who has those feel bad)

Sorry, really self centred post, but it's nice to talk about it!

OP I had a similar problem till I was in my 30's and regularly had skin infections. I was given a place in a specialist psychotherapeutic community. What helped me was learning some very basic stuff like when old negative feelings come into your head and affect your behaviour you really need to focus on something more constructive like an interest or hobby. Doing this means that your difficult feelings become dissipated so you learn to control your emotions rather than your emotions controlling you.

These issues are very complex I know that and I wish you luck in the future.