Is it normal that i constantly pick my skin? (finger skin, lips)

41% Normal
4 Comments

OK so I did some online research it's called DERMATILLOMANIA. Anyways I always pick at my thumb & I've picked at it so bad that my skin color on my thumb is like a dark red (looks like a birth mark or a burn) & it's so embarrassing! I always have to hide my hand or wear gloves. Well I cut my nails or get fake nails & it doesn't work. I will break down & use fingernail clippers to pick the skin. Well I also pick my lip skin. I usually pick both until they bleed. I've been picking for about 4 years.

Voting Results
41% Normal
Based on 78 votes (32 yes)
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Comments ( 4 )
  • SleepingPretty
    12 years ago

    I pick the skin off my lips sometimes, but if you believe that you are an obsessive habit of picking your own skin then please seek professional help! I'm not sayings it's out of the norm, but it sounds like you have no control over it whatsoever.

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  • i'mrickjamesbitch
    12 years ago

    Only babies and crack addicts bite their skin like that!

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  • MissClaire
    12 years ago

    so you have something in common with crack heads.... no big deal

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  • Avant-Garde
    12 years ago

    I do it too! I pick my thumbs and most recently my lips. It's embarrassing and I hate when doctors ask to see my hands. I also have Trichomania so, maybe that has something to do with it? I used to pick my pinky until it would bleed. The people around me acted like that couldn't handle the situation. My mother wrongly accused me of being a masochist when I was about 5 or 6, instead of getting me therapy. My doctors told me that it would get infected and that they would chop my finger off. It scared and me and left me traumatized. My thumbs don't look that bad and I tend to pick if I'm stressed out or bored. I try to hide my hands, but it's hard to do it....

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