Acne~Face Pickers~retired Pickers ??

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If you are still on here and want to talk about this, reply to this thread. I have lots of experience with this, and love to chat, but I didn't want to wite a big long post if nobody is here to read it.
 
yes, I think its just the Holidays people have things to do :) I am still trying not to pick, very hard but doing better than I was...this christmas I am hoping to not have a break out ! so far so good we will see :)

Claire
 
Yes it is very hard! I know what you are going through. I was diagnosed with OCD many years ago, probably when I was about 7 (I am 23 now). In high school I started to have a very very bad picking problem. It lasted 8 years, with the most severe time being April 2007 (when my bf broke up with me)-July 2008. I had to take a quarter off of medical school because I couldn't deal with the picking, school, missing my bf, and being clear across the country from my family and frienRAB. I missed out on tons of social activities because of my face over the last several years. I would refuse to leave the house, make up excuse after excuse as to why I couldn't do anything, and would get up at 5 am for an 8 o'clock class, so I had enough time to cover up all of my scabs. When I would get into the shower after a pick session, I would sit on the bottom of the bath tub and cry because the water made my face sting so bad.

In July of 2008 I began seeing a a new therapist (of course, I have seen many before). I saw her twice a week for double sessions, which lasted an hour and half. The therapy consisted of me coming in without make up on a particular part of my face (the part we were working on that day, for example, my right cheek) and staring at the part of my face in a handheld mirror. Every five minutes, I would rate my urge to pick, and of course, I couldn't pick. The goal is to let the anxiety build and build, let it come to climax, and then it eventually diminishes. I did each part of my face three times before moving on to another part, and eventually began doing the whole face at one time. You don't want to start off doing the whole face because it can be too much at first. Maybe this is something you can look in to?

I also learned that although I have OCD, face picking is an impulse control disorder, which is different from OCD. Many people who pick their skin also have OCD, but they do not have to. Unfortunately, I have OCD and an impulse control disorder (face picking). With OCD, people perform actions to get rid of anxiety (even though that anxiety comes back shortly). For example, someone who washes his/her hanRAB over and over does so to get rid of his/her anxiety associated with germs or uncleanliness. Someone with an impulse control disorder peforms an action because it's pleasurable. People who pull their hair and pick their skin do so because they get some sort of pleasure out of it.

Here are some tips that I can offer you:
1. If you can, only have a mirror in your bathroom, or cover up all other mirrors in your house with paper.
2. For the mirror in your bathroom, go to Home Depot and get a set of temporary blinRAB to put on the mirror. You can clip the blinRAB up with the clips that come w/ the blinRAB when you have to put on your makeup, but then you put the blinRAB down immediately and do not up them back up again until you have to do your makeup the next day.
3. I found that I would pick my face mostly at night after I washed my face in the bathroom sink. I started taking two showers a day (one in AM and one in PM) so that I washed my face at night in the shower and not at the bathroom sink. It sounRAB odd, but it helped.
4. When you are around your house, wear cotton cloves with lotion so you aren't tempted to feel your face for imperfections.
5. Remeraber that when you look in the mirror w/ your makeup on, you can still see what was there before you put the makeup on...other people cannot!
6. I found products that I think really helped with my clogged pores, which of course, helped to diminish my picking. I will tell you what they are in case you're wondering. I use Clearogen wash and lotion in the AM and the stronger differin at night.

Good Luck! :)
 
Hi there lleess :)
you sound so like me!!!! but I think I am finally seeingg how nice my skin can be :) its really making a difference not playing with it , I have to admit the odd time I have gotten a black head and its come straight out...but I do not stand there examining my face anymore at night , I wash it and forget it...I definately find washing my face earlier helps too cause then I watch tv and then go clean my teeth and go straight to bed I do not stand there 30 mins picking any tiny bump ! I really have seen a dramamtic result...I am using Proactiv but not often (perhaps once a day or every other day as its strong) and I use CeraVe cleanser its plain and boring (which was another mistake I made was wanting to use the products in pretty bottles so stupid) this is plain as you can get and its like Cetaphyl and for me as I am 34 I have dry skin so dont need anything too drying and it leaves a think film it feels like its calming your skin its wonderful but again it might not work for others but I think its a great gentle cleanser..


well try not to pick ok...I know its really hard but if I can do it , you can! I really thought I had some disrider like obssesive compulsive but picking my face...but its really a bad habit that you get into and harder to break but you can do it jsut really think I am not doing this anymore to myself! you control it nobody makes you pick right ? :) your can do it take it a day at a time after a week you find it gets easier REALLY its just the first few days! but you can do it!!!!! you really can!!!!!!

start today :)

Claire
 
Hi Abbigail--2 bb's, that's cool. I admire you for posting here, and totally sympathize. I have trouble stopping, too. One thing I noticed about the last time I picked, 2 nights ago, was that I did it after I sort of made myself keep watching TV when I really wanted to stop. I had seen a good show and was ready to turn it off, but then I saw that this actress i liked was going to be on a talk show, so I kept it on. Only, it didn't come on right away, so during a commercial I ran to the bathroom and...well, you know the rest.
I guess if I have something to learn from that, it's to honor my own instincts--that feeling I had that said, "OK, enough TV, let's go do something else, never mind the appearance." Then maybe I wouldn't have become frustrated and had a picking session.
 
Henry!
awwwww that was sweet :) yes...your a right stop picking :) I have slided a little again and been in the mirror but I dont have a huge mess this time (thankfully) I have a wedding coming up this weekend and so really wanted to look people in the eye!

it is very hard sometimes, I have had Acne bad when I was pregnant gosh it was so awful it was all over my chest and down my back! I was erabarassed when I had my son and they gave me and epidural , wondered what they would think...but of course they dont care they are doing there job not judging my acne, but you have these thoughts in your head that everyone is thinking how awful it is!

I had a break out on my face too after he was born it was infected Ance gosh it was like somebody through acid on the side of my face I was so humiliated, I had this lovelly baby and wanted to show him off to the world but I didnt want to go out in public :( I eventually got in under control I still have scars from it and it still flares up sometimes its weird, but then it goes.....that was 8 years ago but the memories I dont forget..

I do understand what it feels like Henry, right now if you saw my face you say its nothing and I realize how lucky I am to not have it very bad right now, but I have been there....it is a battle for sure.....but people who are true and nice will see beyond your Acne and not care :) it will get better, just hang in there and yep just try to not touch your face ok! think possative and keep doing what you are :) give it some time ....

you have support, your not alone... :)

Take care ok!

Claire
 
Salut tout le monde, as we say here in Montreal.

I just read about a trick, by the psychologist Martha Beck, who writes for O magazine. When a client neeRAB to change a behaviour, she has them do push-ups while repeating an affirmation. If the statement is true, the client feels a rush of energy. So I just did a few push-ups (girl ones, I confess) while repeating out loud "I have to stop picking at my face!" Perhaps something happened somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my brain. I hope. ;)
 
Hi Lisa, best of luck as you try to deal with this. Even as I begin to let go of my habit, which has been a constant in my life for about 15 years, I'm beginning to wonder--what will I do with the seemingly vast space its absence will leave?

Does anyone else wonder what they will do when they finally stop picking? Could it have been fear of answering this very question that has kept me picking for so long?
 
Good ain't looking dat bad as before u know, it's really a good news, but do you know the worst, is that I envy you. How I pray mine should just clear up and leave my face a bit clear like yours.

Well, I visited my Dr. yesterday and I was given a different routine with Doxycycline and Benzoyl Peroxide + Dalacin T. Solution. I'm still to lay my hanRAB on the Dalacin T. Solution and see how the whole thing works.

I'm pretty much sure Time is a gentleman and as such, am trying my best to stop picking.

RegarRAB.

Henry
 
Found the answer to my question, for now: cleaning my apartment. It certainly needed it. Lately when I'm in that sort of freak-out mode, I clean. Probably no danger of getting obsessive over household cleanliness. It's just too much work!
Wishing everyone well.
 
I am 33, and I guess, a picker. I just thought I was doing something natural to help fight acne. I didnt really break out till I was pregnant with my first child in 97. Then it just snowballed and went all over my face, my arms, neck, and back. I notice that there are times where I will just go pick at my face for what seems like hours. I will pick at it when I drive, or read. I pick at my arms too. If I cant find something there, I go for my back. Its leaving nasty dark marks on my skin. But I keep thinking that if I just pop them, they will go away and not make a scab for me to pick. Its a vicious cycle. I pick at my husband too. I even started picking at my daughter last week. Reading this thread, its hit me, I have a real issue here. i have to stop somehow. Thanks for the thread, it gives me hope!
 
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