Is this part of skin picking? Part of OCD?
With my teeth I bite the inside of my cheeks. I tear up the inside of my cheeks, sometimes to the point of bleeding. I bite and tear at my lips too. I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't do that is. The inside of my mouth has never EVER not been torn up. I also pick the skin around my nails when nervous or uncomfortable. I don't realize I'm doing it until it hurts, and then I can't stop. I just HAVE to pick off the skin even if it bleeds and hurts. It'll drive me nuts otherwise.
I have what you have, only I chew the skin of my fingers and.. consume the flesh (gross, I know). It's called dermatophagia (google it, the wiki page is actually quite helpful) and it includes biting the inside of your mouth and lips. According to wikipedia it's an "impulse control disorder" and an "obsessive compulsive disorder" so yep, OCD.
Oh my God thank you! I thought I was just a weirdo lol don't feel bad I used to do the same. But now I'm afraid of germs that might be on my hands so I don't touch my hands to my lips, even though any germs on my hands would just get in the little wounds I make around my fingers. It's annoying. Stress makes me skin pick and then that stresses me out more because I'm worried about getting a disease or getting my blood on things other people will touch. I've got three band-aids on now due to a particularly uncomfortable therapy session. But thank you, it's so relieving to put a name to it!
@MarianTheSiren no problem! Glad I could help :) and I totally feel ya about the bandaid thing. I get so scared sometimes that my fingers will get infected one day and they'll have to be amputated LOL but 11 years of skin chewing and I still have all 10 fingers :p
@Seraphical wow thanks for this term!
Ugh this has effected me my whole life, but I pick on my scalp as well. And, don't even get me started on if I have a scab. It stinks cuz my whole family notices and call me gross. I know it's gross, I don't do it on purpose.
This is me. I pick my lips for sometimes over eight hours they bleed and than I go to mirror and pick at my face for hours on end ! Bad but maybe today the mental physician will help figure it out ! Good luck my friends !
Hey everyone, I have had this condition for years and only discovered it was an actual condition about a year ago. Some nifty ways to stop doing it, especially when you're always biting your fingers is to use antibacterial gel on your hands every time you start, it gives you something to focus on doing - running it in, it will kill any germs lurking there and when you go to bite again, it tastes disgusting so you notice yourself doing it more as you get the ikky taste. It's helped me to stop completely.
With picking the face, why not look in the mirror and instead of picking, put on a facemask? You can get ones which really set into your skin (like mud masks). Your skin will feel and look great afterwards but you also still get the sensation of picking the mask off bit by bit as it's actually this sensation and urge that is the addictive part.
Hope this helps some of you!
Love Rach xx
@RachelImogen
@RachelImogen thanks for the info. This was really helpful and your ideas were great. I pick at my skin for what feels like forever in the mirror. Its such a timesuck in the morning when I could be doing more productive things. I began to realize it has to be a mental disorder or something when I literally couldn't stop even though I really want to. I figured there were others out there with the same problem but I can't believe there is an actual forum devoted to it. Hope we all can learn something! Thanks again!
