I’ve been considering a new approach but don’t want to break the bank. Tegaderm seems like the go-to, but has anybody tried any of the other (cheaper) brand options? How do they compare? Any recommendations? Figured I’d get a roll and cut to size, if you can do that, like you can with hydrocolloids.

Also hoping this can serve as a dressing if I need to use ointment for infected spots.

Any input or experience with this is welcomed.

I have been picking at my skin and nails for years on end.

Yesterday I sat for 7 hours straight picking at my skin and nails, to the point where I have no more nail on some of my toes, my fingernail bed is unrecognisable and the skin on my arms is not visible as it is covered in red painful mounds.

It gets really bad sometimes, I'm very mindful of the way I appear to people, espcially my face but sometimes I do not know what comes over me, and I end up destroying my skin and sacred body, fishing out tiny hairs between my eyebrows, on my stomach, literally digging in, resulting in bloodied holes. Sometimes, when it gets really bad, I proceed to cut over my doings, so it "blends in".

I very rarely off my shirt as every body part imaginable is covered in circular dark scars. I love swimming but not enough to reveal my skin. It comes in the way of my sex life especially - the dark or nothing comes off.

I improved alot but the progress just comes crashing down, when the void calls. And it gets worse with each interval.

I can only describe it as living separate lives and stories while in the act, like maladaptive daydreaming. It can go on for hours on end and depsite my entire body going off with sirens imploring me to stop, the urge to pick is louder.

My mouth waters thinking about a picking marathon or seeing someone squeeze a pimple.

I do not particularly know what triggers it either.

Sorry for the long read, I just never really spoke to anybody about this with such transparency, my friends laugh it off or look at me weird, the therapist I opened up told me to "just stop", so I would greatly appreciate some advice, resources or support. Thank you.

About 2 weeks ago I started picking my face again..I had gone 341 days without picking my acne and skin. Now I can’t stop at all. I’ve also picking my hangnails more lately. Last week I cut my nails extra short to try and help. It didn’t help, I had cut them too short and they hurt, and because they were so short I was able to get to the skin that’s usually underneath so I ended up picking that as well. My Mom keeps lecturing me about the picking and how I was doing so well. I’m trying to stop again but it’s so hard, I find myself doing it whenever I’m tired, bored, or sad. I just wanted to ramble here sincd I have no one to talk to about this.

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https://preview.redd.it/2r3l9h8iiexc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a56c62b47ffa666e2c1647ce002e671d2d3b363

hey everyone!! i just relapsed after trying realllly hard not to pick 🤩 and now i’m browsing this subreddit to make myself feel better. i came across a post about accountability partners and i think that would be really really helpful for me . i would love to find an accountability partner to check in with daily about our progress w/ quitting.

about me: i’m a 20 yr old queer female art/college student. i mainly pick my face (acne) but occasionally my chest too. would love to talk to someone who has stuff in common w/ me but open to literally anyone who struggles with picking and is determined to stop!!

i also don’t check reddit very often so i would be open to exchanging other social medias/maybe phone numbers if we get to know each other a bit first idk.

My picking was under control (almost a full remission - no open wounds, no frantic picking) for a couple of years and I think it made me over confident. I started taking a stimulant for a neurological disorder I have, and I have started picking again in a major way. I’m feeling very ashamed of my open sores (started as PMS acne). I just needed to vent a little, there’s no one in my life who understands this.

So I have an issue with picking at my cuticles and fingernail skin. I stopped biting my nails years ago thankfully but my thumbs are always kinda beat up and some days it's really bad. My skin has been healing for a bit (still kinda bad tho) and my nails have gotten real long so I thought it might be fun to get a manicure, maybe that would deter me from picking at my hands!

So I went and it was great and my nails were all cleaned up and stuff. I got a clear shiny coating. But a tiny bit of debris was caught in the coating and I just kept running my finger over it and eventually I couldn't take it anymore and scratched at it. Now there's a bare spot in the middle of one of my nails and I just feel so frustrated. Maybe I could have gone back and asked for a touch up but I doubt they would do it now.

Anyone know if it's easy to spot treat nails? It's hard to get a pic of it but it's basically just a rough, bare spot of no coating in the middle of my nail :( here

hey everyone. i've been picking at my legs (and on my stomach and back a bit) for so long that they look terrible now. every time i see the smallest bump i feel the need to extract it from my pore, of course it always ends up looking worse afterwards.

i recently noticed that i'm starting to do this on my chest as well. it's one of the few areas that still have good looking skin, and i don't want it to end up like my legs :(

how can i stop myself before it's too late? what are your techniques? i really need help, i don't want to destroy the last bit of healthy skin i have.

I occasionally pick at the skin on my arm around my wrist area. When I do I get to the point of a little blood. It always hurts for an hour or so afterwards, becomes uncomfortable after awhile. How can I get it to stop hurting immediately after I stop picking?

no matter how many pimples and blackheads I pop, they always come back. no matter how many times I cut/bite my nails the white part always grows back no matter how much I bite off my cheek ans lips, the bumps alaways come back. no matter how much dead skin and calluses I take apart. no matter how much earwax, eye goo and nose boogers I manage to get out, they come fucking back. there's always more. I want them all gone. but it never feels like they are. just because I don't feel it doesn't mean it's not there. I poke my finger up my nose and ears constantly to check for it. until I bleed.

I want to rip off my skin so I can take all the dirt inside me. I want to pull off my fingernails so I never worry about them. I want to put a vacuum up my nose and ears to suck all this disgusting shit out of me.

I want things to be smooth and even. why are there so many things wrong everywhere? as a kid, I once grabbed some scissors and started to cut along the seam of some curtains because it bothered me to see the color difference the overlap caused. during car trips, I'd imagine myself taking a giant knife across the land, causing everything to align with the horizon. I caused so many nasty nose bleeds from obsessively picking my nose. I want to take a knife to each and every single one of my "beauty marks" and moles, I hate them I hate them they ruin my skin

I hate it all I can't take it why am I freak why

Hi yall, I just wanted to see what you guys thought or if you had any tips for taking care of your acne, face and body, when you're depressed. Because of my adhd and ptsd showering in particular can really be an all out struggle to do when I'm depressed. I wish I knew how to overcome it but the overstimulation of the sensory overload that a shower is for me is a lot to overcome. So if you were advising someone who had struggles with this or didn't have access to showers or baths what should be some tips or products to try ? I have heard mixed things on what I am currently doing so I wanna make sure I'm on the right path. I'm seeing a dermatologist for the first time ever because my skin has never had acne like this, or really acne at all. I am so lucky in that regard. But within the past couple of years I have been getting what seems to be stress and hormonal acne. Primarily deep and inflamed cysts on my face, neck, shoulders, and chest. I am currently trying using face wipes and neosporin to combat these. I also get the pimple patches when my cysts seem extra bad or infected and inflamed. My primary care doctor put me on prednisone and amoxicillian to clear this up too. I know that a lot of it has to do with oily skin and hair though. I have a history of skin picking that I take NAC to try to avoid picking. It was my form of stimming as a teen though so it's a hard habit to break. I'm in therapy now though and have a psychiatrist to help me out when the therapy doesn't do the trick.

Current products I use:

Neosporin(for spot treatment)

Believe beauty 3 in 1 cleansing wipes(they have papaya, hyaluronic acid, and toner)

Petroleum jelly(maybe once a week to use to slug overnight)

NAC vitamin supplement(for skin picking reduction)

Curel hydratherapy wet skin moisturizer itch defense

Hanhoo hydrocolloid custom blemish patches

Youth to the people superfood cleanser

Dermaplanning razor for peach fuzz (once a month)

What would you recommend for the scars from the skin picking, hormonal acne, bad hygiene acne, oily skin, and stress acne I am enduring? Its killing my self esteem and I've stopped dating because of it tbh.

For the past two weeks i have been able to pretty much stop with only very minimal picking but tonight i just went off the rails and picked at my face for what i think was around 3 hours. Luckily its the weekend so hopefully ill be healed before i need to go to uni on monday. I just feel so defeated and alone. I have just moved to a new country to study and have gone through a big breakup so i feel like so much has changed for me and its been hard to cope. Being in a new place and being away from my support system has made things very hard. Making freinds here has been tough for me and i just hope i dont revert back to the brutal picking cycle i was in a few years ago as a result. However tommorow is a new day and another chance to try again. I have noticed signs of scarring on my face so if anyone has any tips for that i would be grateful.

I was wondering has anyone ever gone over like 5 hours of picking in one sitting? I don’t do it a lot but I have a good amount of times … you loose track of time completely and also like you take little breaks to stop and breathe obviously but the point is have you ever been so consumed that like 5 hours has gone by ? Or maybe even more than 5 hours. I think the longest I’ve done is 6 or 7 but that like NEVER happens. 5 dosent happen to often either but it’s more frequent than 6 or 7. I just want to make sure I’m not insane and that I’m not alone…. The usual time for me is like between 1-4 hours. :/

My wife picks at her skin until it bleeds and then when it scabs, she picks that off too ….. the most embarrassing part for her is that she eats the scab, nails and whatever she picks off….

She does it to her scalp and the inside of her nose too. it took her a while to tell me this as she is very embarrassed. I really want to help her to stop. That’s the reason why she told me because she wants help.

She has OCD & Asperger‘s 25/F, I also have my own conditions, but I don’t have this skin picking disorder so it’s hard for me to figure out how to help.

What have you guys done to help stop or slow down this behavior? Also genuinely why is this happening? She says it’s hard to explain. Please give us some advice. Thanks in advance.

I used to LOVE swimming before my sick picking got really bad about 4 years ago and I have not gone to a pool since out of concern of getting an infection. What are the risks of that happening and does anyone have any tips to try to stop picking? Tysm!!!

Hey yall apologies as this has been asked a bunch but I wonder if a laser of some kind might help? I live in a hot climate and can’t wear 90% of my spring summer wardrobe (and can’t afford a new one haha) and just getting desperate. Haaaalp

Hi, I'm wanting to try fake nails to lessen my picking compulsion but I'm a rock climber and having long nails makes it very hard to climb.

Has anyone tried some sort of DIY fake nail or nail polish that will lessen the urge but are also short and don't get in the way?

Thanks ❤️

I have been picking at my lips, shoulders, face, fingers and scabs for as long as i can remember. I’ve tried getting to the bottom of it and finding where the problem stems from. The conclusion I came to is that it either comes from stress or simply a very bad habit, or maybe it’s both at the same time. Any time I feel an uneven surface on my skin, whether its a little pimple or a scab I feel a really bad urge to pick it off and I always do no matter how hard i try to tell myself i will regret it. I’ve tried bandages over each of my fingers to prevent me from picking, which ended up not working since the moment I take them off to go to bed I start picking at it and my skin is back to the same place it was in the beginning in a matter of seconds. The only way i can explain it, is the moment I start doing it it feels as though my hand is stuck there and i can’t take it off no matter how much i try to tell myself to stop. I’m sick of getting giant scars on my face and my body I’m not exactly the type of person that fidget toys would really be of much help and I don’t know what to do anymore. If anyone could simply even give me the quickest possible way I can heal a scab whether its a home remedy or some sort of medicine please let me know i’m desperate.

Hey guys, TLDR;

So I’ve had compulsive skin picking probably since I was 16-17. I’m 21 now, and have an amazing boyfriend whom means the world to me.

He’s very acne prone, and works as a roofer, so he often comes home with blemishes on his face/ back. Due to my compulsion, It’s become addicting for me to “pick” at his face/ back when I see any sort of pimple head/ blackhead popping out.

He does not have an issue with this - he actually asks me if I want to pick, and his offering usually ends in me saying yes. It’s almost become a sort of bonding-activity for us, but I know it’s not a good one.

Despite his insistence that it is “okay” I feel really horrible for leaving red marks all over his face and I always feel guilty after leaving him scarred. He says he doesn’t care, but it almost feels like I’m injuring him. I sometimes think he lets me because he knows I enjoy it.

How can I try to stop this behaviour/ tone it down? Should I try to distract myself?

I've heard some people use stress balls, or pick glue off their hands, but I'm wondering if you guys have other ideas? I pick my lip and I really want to stop.

Something I have noticed I would like to share that might help someone else here too.

So I have a facial skin-picking habit which seems to have gotten worse since I started my ADHD medications. I am trying lots of things to kick this habit and protect my skin from me.

One thing I have been doing is apply antibacterial wound gel to my failed picks. It dries hard over the broken skin and acts as a sort of barrier.

I had been using it on the same spot for two weeks now. I would wash and pay dry at night after shower, apply medigel and cover overnight with Band-Aid. Wouldn’t heal or close over. Wasn’t even bleeding.

I stopped using it two days ago and the skin bled and formed its own natural covering - scab - and now it is getting better. I also stopped using bandaids at night - looks like it needed airing.

It appears the wound gel was just prolonging the healing process. It is ugly as hell to have this scab on my face but looks like it just needed to make its own cover re blood, natural blood clotting, natural platelet flooding, etc.

So yeh don’t use wound gel over a long period of time!!! Maybe it’s just for once or twice to clean a bit but don’t use it for weeks like I did. Seems to make the wounds worse or just not get better.

Unfortunately I still haven’t kicked my habit completely so if you can share some tips with me, that would be so great. 🧡

i don't do this as much as i used to, but i definitely still get the urge to. whenever i pick something from my skin, (usually from my ears or scalp) i have a massive urge to keep it like some kind of weird skin trophy.

this mostly happens when i think it's a really nice piece and i used to put it in my phone case to just admire later. it's so strange and kind of gross but i don't know why i do it and i'm wondering if anyone else does?