How to stop SKIN PICKING| Dr Dray

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[Rainbowdust]

Skin picking is like a coping strategy that backfires. We pick at our skin (unclogging our pores, etc.) to make our complexions look better, yet they end up looking worse. We pick at our skin to help relieve anxiety, yet cause ourselves even more anxiety as the result of looking an absolute mess with wounds and scabs on our faces. I tell myself that my skin will look beautiful enough if I just let it be. I can't pick at my skin and immediately look better. There's a healing process involved, but if I just resist the urge to pick in the first place, I look absolutely well enough to function normally in society. A blackhead on the nose isn't as bad in my opinion as is a swollen red mark or scab. Where does it end, too? Pick at the clogged pore, then pick at the scab before the wound has properly healed. Skin picking can be an endless cycle. I have suffered from it myself for many, many years. I do feel the disorder is anxiety related. We can almost manage our anxiety throughout the day without any problems, but by the time night rolls around, the torture of abstaining becomes too great, and we break down and resort to the same old behavior. Great video, though, and I feel like you shared some good tips!

[jsmitala]

Just came here after murdering my skin 🙋🏽‍♀️

[CBC]

Anyone who has skin picking disorder (dermatillomania), please like this comment to let others and myself know how many struggle with this mental disorder. I struggle with this and it's not easy to live life with it.

[sunnyglo]

This is what i have DoNe and worked :
1. I wore gloves like she said and helped the most l( when i can t wear both i wear one and i keep the other hand busy)
2. SMALL amounts of aspirin and dermatologist will warn you about this too !!! but i put aspirin mixed with water on my face so i can t reach my face but also it helps with inflammation .

3.I put patches
4. I sacrificed some face cream by putting a good amount until all my face was white :)) so i couldn t see what s underneath but still moisturizing my skin but i really had no acne so i don t know if it affects other people.
also coconut oil made my healing faster but again i don t know if it s good for other types of skin .

5. When i felt the urge i said to my self that no i don t have the urge i tried to deny it until my brain believed it

6. I removed most of the mirrors and at night when it gets worse i try to not turn on the light in the bathroom i bring with me a flashlight:)) i know it sounds a little off but worked .

YOu Can do it!!

[MoistOnyo]

I can’t appreciate Dr Dray enough for talking about mental health. This is such a topic overlooked by the society. Even worse, skin picking disorder is even overlooked in the mental health realm, while most of the providers focus on depression, anxiety, trauma related issues. This is definitely something I will bring up in my next session with my doctor. Thank you Dr Dray!

[ev]

My parents didn’t believe this was an actual mental health issue until I showed them this video, thank u so much, now they’re taking me to therapy

[eevih]

Hey loves, I just wanted to come here and tell you that it is indeed possible to stop and put your bad habits to the past. I have now been ”sober” from picking my skin for a week and honestly my acne is improved drasticly. Its really almost gone and Im so happy about that!! I did it, You can do it too, love❤️

[labyrinth]

Here are some tips that could maybe help some people (gained them from years of experience)=

- Cover your mirrors
- wear gloves
- use stressballs or toys
- wear a necklace, so you can play with it when you feel the urge to pick
- wear a elastic band around your wrist, so everytime you feel like picking, snatch it (the pain will bring you back to reality)
- trimm your nails
- sit on your hands, or make fists
- create a move that you do, everytime you feel like picking (like snapping your fingers) so you get used to doing this
- set a timer so you can challenge yourself how long you can go without picking (can be motivating)
- make a checklist, so you can check off the days you didn't skin pick at (you can also do this with rewards for yourself)
- eat healthy and take care of your skin

Hope I can help :)

[izzykrys]

thank you for this, i’ve been struggling a lot with my skin picking recently and it’s embarrassing because i know that all the problems with my skin are my own fault and i feel guilty every time i do it because i know it’s making my skin so much worse

[jaanikavelliste]

I have been struggling with skin picking for a while, it started when i first started getting acne from puberty. i sometimes spend literally hours in front of the mirror squeezing every spot on my face, and its so difficult to stop. even worse, my mom was NOT supportive about it at all. She BLAMED it on me, and got really angry when she saw i had picked at my skin. she would take my phone for a day if she saw a picked pimple on my face, and did absolutely nothing to actually help me with the problem. this made the condition so much more stressful, and even made it worse since she treated me this way because of it. she has since stopped acting that way but i felt so emotionally and physically damaged from that experience. i still deal with skin picking to this day, and i really hope all these tips help my skin and my self confidence!!

[kuuthecalm]

Great tips! Avoiding mirrors helps me. I usually avoid touching my face at all, because feeling any bumps etc makes me want to pick, so sometimes it makes doing my normal skincare routine hard. I find that if I can apply my products gently, it makes me feel like I'm actually taking care of my skin and I feel more motivated to not pick (because I don't want to ruin the skin I've just taken care of).

I am also glad you pointed out the mental health aspect 😊

I was literally picking my skin in the mirror when I saw this notification. I think it was destiny hahah

[lollerkaterina]

You really did the work on this. It's not a dermatologist's job to know about psychology, so it is a great comfort to hear you speak about this with understanding. I have been shamed by nearly every doctor I have gone to for help with the aftermath of my disorder. I have been turned away by estheticians as well. Most mental health professionals with a specialty in dermatillomania say that we have to let go of the shame in order to recover. It's difficult when everyone around you believes that you can "just stop picking".

[dkolak]

I thought I was the only person on the planet with this issue. Can’t thank you enough for this video, Dr. Dray!

[samrittenhouse]

I was able to stop my lifelong compulsive daily skin picking when I saw Dr Dray's Jan 19, 2018 video on post-inflammatory erythema. I'd had deep painful cystic acne since puberty and felt compelled to squeeze and pick my pimples in an effort to get rid of them, which would result in open infected sores all over my face, chest and back. In her 1/19/18 video, Dr Dray stressed that when you pick your skin you are essentially WOUNDING it. For some reason, as obvious as it seems, this had never occurred to me, and it sent a chill down my spine. Why would I want to wound myself? I stopped picking from that day forward. Her tips on simple, minimalist skin care have changed my life. I am 60 years old and my skin is now flawless every single day. Thank you most sincerely, Dr. Dray. I can''t begin to express my gratitude for your extraordinarily positive influence in my life. -Sam, A Loyal Viewer in Oregon

[leander]

'you are enough.'

this short statement just really got to me. Thank you so much Dr. Dray!

[lettyspaghettii]

i pick at my skin a lot and i’ve found that picking at dried glue or dried paint instead of my skin helps a lot. i also found that if i put on makeup i pick at my face probably like once or twice instead of like every 30 min. one last thing is weak nails as a result of fake nails/gel nails make it harder to pick! (coming from someone who spends literally like one hour a day picking at my skin)

[gigglilly]

Thank you so much for this! I've struggled with picking at my skin since I was a little kid, I'd sit on the sink and just dig at my skin until I got something out of it. I've been trying to stop for years but it's just so hard.

[chooheon]

Applying very expensive sunscreen during the day and moisturizer at night really helped me stop picking my skin. It made me focus more about the extreme cost of the products id be wasting than the compulsion to pick.

[nighteternal]

Unfortunately I can relate. I have a greasy skin, large pores and oftentimes painful underskin pimples. Every night when I am the only one awake at home, while in front of the mirror, clearing my skin, I just can't resist the urge to squeeze and pick nearly every pore of my skin. Then my face is left red, bumpy, with a lot of wounds that heal really slow. So immediatley after I am done with the process of picking, I feel guilt for what I've done with my face, telling myself this is the last time, I must stop doing it, but this is until the next time when everything repeats again. It's a neverending cycle, and it's indeed relted to anxiety. But I don't know how to stop. Recently I am feel ashamed to be outside among people, so I need to put a ton of a concealer, but still the wounds can be seen by others. The feeling is that everyone scrutinizes your blemishes and this makes your insecurities even bigger...