I have compulsive skin picking. How do I treat the spots I've harmed on my skin?

Good question. I would like to know the answer. Maybe it requires a dermatologist?

ok this is what Ive done in the past for my own self treatment because I am too embarrassed to go to my family MD, first off... cut your fingernails as short as you can and keep them that way, secondly, get an OTC bacitracin or antibiotic ointment and apply it 2 times a day (clean area first). Start taking prenatal vitamins because they are great with skin healing, hair and nails. Also using vitamin E oil aid in healing faster. When a good scab(s) form, apply the oil or ointment and cover to keep scab moist, this will let your skin heal from inside out and have less of a chance of scarring. I am a nurse, so this is hard for me to tell anyone, my picking comes with my stress and anxiety, and it affects my physical relationship with my husband because I am too embarrassed for him to see. So like right now, when I have an area that I have been "attacking" , I have absolutely no desire for intimacy, because of the risk of the embarrassment. Right now, the area affected is my right upper thigh on the side. It started by me feeling little tiny bumps or calcium deposits in the hair follicle and I hate feeling imperfections on my skin, so I chose to "scratch" them out, not really noticing what I was doing at the time until I could feel dampness on the tips of my fingers, which was blood. I've ruined so many pairs of shorts, pajama pants, ect because of blood stains. The areas I always pick at are where nobody can see of course, cause I'm always so worried about what people will think if they knew what I do to myself. Hope this helped, and thanks for " listening" this is the first time I've said the truth to anyone :)

I am a 42 year old woman who has been picking since I was about seventeen. It has negatively affected my life in so many ways. Two years ago I moved to Japan and it's worse than it's ever been. The stress of having two children here and going through the giant earth quake and resulting nuclear emergency plus the stringent Japanese life with all of it's demands has me destroying me face, back, butt, legs, arms. It's such an awful cycle and I am writing this to help anyone who may find comfort in knowing they are not the only ones. This runs in my family. My mother and an aunt have struggled with this my whole life. My mother used to even pick on MY face when I was little. I guess I learned this was the response to stress at a very young age. The more stressful the situation, the more I pick. I found a way to avoid it a little by reducing stress in my life. I moved to Mexico, became a yoga teacher...But when I married a Japanese man and had children the shit hit the fan and I am picking worse than ever. I am on antidepressants and have been since I was eighteen. They don't really help me with this. I recently started taking a kind of valium. It doesn't help either. None of the therapists, doctors, or dermatologists I have spoken to about it have been able to help me. They don't even seem to understand what I am talking about. I have a beautiful seven year old daughter and my worst fear is passing this on to her, or to my son. The irony is I am also very beautiful and could have enjoyed the blessing of beauty had I not had the compulsion to pick and scrape and tear at my skin. Now that I am getting old it saddens me so deeply that I lost the opportunity to be a beautiful woman. And I did it to myself. It also makes me feel terrible that I am hurting my children and my husband, even friends, employers with this awful compulsion. Looking the other day at the scars on my back and face I thought " You must really hate yourself". I need help and don't know where to get it. At this stage in life it's more for my children than for me. I took Accutane at one point. It was so expensive ($300 per week) and I still picked at nothing. I hope this helps someone. I am so glad that at least there's a community now, and awareness.

Hi Ashley,

I am so sorry that you've have had to go through this. You mention "therapists", but not the type of therapy you had. Not all therapists really know how to treat this type of disorder. But I do think therapy is likely to be more beneficial than medication in the long run. I'm very surprised you were ever on Accutane...

If you have the resources to see another therapist, I would recommend finding someone who specializes in treating OCD and / or compulsive disorders rather than a general therapist. In the meantime, I also recommend that you try finger toys (if you haven't already). Keeping your hands busy with finger toys (there is an article on this site that discusses this more in depth) may help you. It sounds simplistic but using those can help a lot.