Don't think anyone will ever take me seriously
I've been wondering for a couple of years now if I might suffer from compulsive skin picking, every time I've tried to ask people though nobody ever responds. I've been picking at my skin for years, usually the skin on my feet, especially when I'm really stressed or really tired, or just when I'm bored, when I was younger I used to get to the point where it would start bleeding and that hurt a lot, I'm a lot better nowadays, I still pick the skin but either my skin's tougher or I'm more wary now, they usually don't end up bleeding because I can stop when it gets close to that point. I also used to have mild acne and I'd sit in front of my mirror for ages, especially when I was revising so I was really stressed and just pick at my skin, and I felt really self-conscious and unhappy about it, I've got a few little acne scars now but it's a lot better.
Most of the time I'm pretty happy, I went on medication for my acne so there's not as much to pick anymore and I tend to stay away and as far as I can tell it doesn't wreck my life, I won't let anyone see my feet, but I don't think I've done any major damage to myself because the skin grows back fairly quickly, but I've never given my feet the chance to heal over properly and I had a pretty bad session the other day, I couldn't put any weight on my foot yesterday unless I was wearing thick socks. But like I said, it's not ruining my life, I still go out and see people and it's easy to hide so it doesn't affect me as long as my feet are covered and I'm not stressed, but I don't know how to stop either, it's just something I feel like I have to do. I don't think anyone would take me seriously if I talked to them about it because I haven't given myself any serious lasting injuries from it yet, it's really embarrassing but it doesn't stop me functioning. I just worry that if I don't get it under control soon I might get really bad in the future and end up causing lasting damage, I've never let my feet heal long enough to see. I pick at the skin on my lips all the time, last year I got to the point where they were bleeding for about half an hour, I had to leave class.
I just wondered if anyone else has it and whether or not you think it's worth telling someone? I know some people get it really badly and I feel like I'm being melodramatic if I claim I've got it, and if it's not worth people on the internet paying attention to it's not worth bothering real people with. I don't know if I'm making a fuss over nothing, or if it even matters anymore because it's not as bad as it was. To give you an idea, this is the state of me at the moment.
Most of the time I'm pretty happy, I went on medication for my acne so there's not as much to pick anymore and I tend to stay away and as far as I can tell it doesn't wreck my life, I won't let anyone see my feet, but I don't think I've done any major damage to myself because the skin grows back fairly quickly, but I've never given my feet the chance to heal over properly and I had a pretty bad session the other day, I couldn't put any weight on my foot yesterday unless I was wearing thick socks. But like I said, it's not ruining my life, I still go out and see people and it's easy to hide so it doesn't affect me as long as my feet are covered and I'm not stressed, but I don't know how to stop either, it's just something I feel like I have to do. I don't think anyone would take me seriously if I talked to them about it because I haven't given myself any serious lasting injuries from it yet, it's really embarrassing but it doesn't stop me functioning. I just worry that if I don't get it under control soon I might get really bad in the future and end up causing lasting damage, I've never let my feet heal long enough to see. I pick at the skin on my lips all the time, last year I got to the point where they were bleeding for about half an hour, I had to leave class.
I just wondered if anyone else has it and whether or not you think it's worth telling someone? I know some people get it really badly and I feel like I'm being melodramatic if I claim I've got it, and if it's not worth people on the internet paying attention to it's not worth bothering real people with. I don't know if I'm making a fuss over nothing, or if it even matters anymore because it's not as bad as it was. To give you an idea, this is the state of me at the moment.
Spoiler
Wow I get that too, I mainly pick at my arms, my lips and my scalp. I tend to wear long sleeve tops for this reason, because in the past people have asked me what is wrong with my arms and I didn't know how to respond to that. For me, I think it is a symptom of my anxiety. I'm not sure how to advise you on whether you should tell anyone, because honestly the only people who know I do it are my family. But maybe someone would be able to help you stop doing it? Idk sorry
Original post by Anonymous
Wow I get that too, I mainly pick at my arms, my lips and my scalp. I tend to wear long sleeve tops for this reason, because in the past people have asked me what is wrong with my arms and I didn't know how to respond to that. For me, I think it is a symptom of my anxiety. I'm not sure how to advise you on whether you should tell anyone, because honestly the only people who know I do it are my family. But maybe someone would be able to help you stop doing it? Idk sorry
Hey
Thanks for replying. I don't know anyone in real life who talks about it and I've always been too scared to properly tell anyone because they'll think it's disgusting. 
I think my brother has a vague idea, he's seen me do it a few times and he's told me to stop it, and my family knew I used to pick at my acne and tell me off about it but my dad was like 'just stop then' and I was like 'I can't'. I tried suggesting to them once that I might have an actual problem with it but I wasn't brave enough to tell them about how bad it gets.
