Think of your skin as a garden. It needs time and care to bloom beautifully 🌸🪴

ive been picking and biting the skin around my fingernails since i was like 8 years old. nothing seems to help to stop it. ive tried band aids - they fall off after washing my hands and hold water inside and that wrinkled skin is even easier to pick. hand cream/lotion - dries off in like 2 seconds and i hate it (also worth mentioning that i have sensory issues). cutting my nails short seems to stop the scratching but i still bite it. KT tape works for a while because its stronger than bandaids, but im embarrassed to walk around with blue tape on my fingers and it still falls off after 3 or 4 hand washes.

reminding used to work for a while - i did it a little less when my partner was reminding me but now i just do it everywhere they wont see me do it, in the bathroom, or anywhere we're not together.

whenever i look for advice on the internet i always come across advice that you just need to paint your nails. im a guy. i wont paint my nails for that. and before someone suggests it - ive tried clear nail polish before. but i applied it really poorly and hated the way it felt so i scratched it off.

any other ideas? what should i do to stop??

I’ve been picking my skin (both thumbs) for over 15 years now and it’s been a battle for me to stop. I have scars now and I don’t think they’re going to go away.. people would look at my thumbs and let me know that my thumbs were bleeding and ask what’s wrong with them. It didn’t bother me much and honestly i didnt think there was anything wrong with picking the skin until recently. Then i also told my doctor about it and my mental health. I’ve been on depression med for about 6mo and stopped taking it for about a week. I also noticed that I stopped picking my skin for about a week or two. I mean i still pick on my thumbs without realizing it but i stop immediately. I don’t know how long this would last.. but im also still kind of hesitant to accept that it’s something I need to stop..? Anyone thinking this way?

Hello, I’ve been skin picking for over 3 years now. I just recently found out that I do in fact have dermatillomania. I mostly pick at my fingers.

I notice sometimes when I pick to the point where I start to bleed, that it is very difficult to get it to stop bleeding and clot up. Any advice on how to fix this? I have a job where I’m constantly using my hands & my job provides first aid but my boss has been laying into me for using supplies for something other than emergency.

I’m a barista, and I’m often one to clean the coffee mugs, the espresso machine, and several other things with this chemical called Cafisa…. If anyone in here knows what that is, it’s strong as can be. It also works best with scalding hot water to clean. It has dried out my hands COMPLETELY, and since I have dermatillomania, it’s total hell since my fingers are my fixation. I have the option to wear gloves, but it’s impossible to grasp things with them, on top of them being made out of latex (I’m allergic).

Any advice on how to fix extremely dried out fingers/how to stop this???

Does anybody else really like the intense burn after disinfecting a patch of picked skin? It’s crazy. I’ll pick, then use a lot of the disinfectant, then let it semi heal over and then pick again within an hour to disinfect YET again.

It’s a mix feeling of frustration, satisfaction, shame and the lack of willpower to stop.