Picking Feet - self-mutilation?

hay guys, Ok first time i have told anyone about this, so its quite a thing for me to sit here and type to god knows how many of you...

I realy have a problem with my feet.. i.. i will sit there and pick them untill they bleed. I pull bits of skin off and i sometimes can hobble for days as the heel is red raw with skin missing, and i never let it grow back  - if it does im picking at it again, oepning new cuts on my feet.

iI have done it for years now.. almost 3. Its jsut a habit, and even if it hurts if the skin is coming off i will tug at it untill its completly off..

er do i need help or am i not alone? I dont know what made me post this.. other than the fact i was jsut doing it right now and thought i better tell SOMEONE im doing it..

Han

I used to do the exact same thing. It would start with just a little blister or bubble and I would pull all the skin back until my entire heel or the balls of my feet were raw ... then I wouldn't be able to walk for a few days and had to wear like 4 pairs of socks so that it wouldn't hurt as much!

I don't know why I did it, and I don't know why I stopped. I pick at pretty much everything on my body, now though. I have a really bad problem with picking at zits, or even just bumps on my skin until they're really bad and end up scarring.

I read an article about how this is a form of self-mutilation. I don't know if that's why I'm doing it because I generally feel pretty ok with myself.

Glad you posted this.  In my opinion, I believe you have obsessive-compulsive disorder.  I would research it.  I also suggest you see a family doctor.

wow Jay, i see its not just me then!yeh, i dont feel bad about myself i just.. do it.. its werid. I like the pain sometimes (how sick does that sound!) and sometimes becuase there is a little bit poking up i wanna rip it all off in one go. Er, yeh sick realy

Huum.. do you know how you stoped? did you wear socks all the time or just not think about it? i wanna know how to stop it, as my poor feet are prob screaming "leave us alone were nakered!" haha..

 yeh.. O.C.D? realy? maybe i should reseach that, i never thought foot picking couldbe part of it :S thanks!

hey, han, my husband does that...we call it grooming!  sorry i don't have any advice for you, tho...maybe you can keep socks on?  slather your feet with some yummy smelling foot cream ( I like "shea it isn't so" from true blue spa/bed bath and beyond) and then right away put on some cotton socks.  after a few days your feet should be really soft and there won't be anything to pick at.  worth a try....

yummy oils and stuff *remembers this* sweet as! ok then, i'll give that a go. I see where your coming from, cheers! *looks over at ann summers passionfruit massarge oil* will that do? LOL

Han, I've been thinking about it and I think I stopped when I met Travis, because I didn't want him to see it. I eventually stopped thinking about it all together and now it's been 3 years. (Although I still do it if I get blisters on my feet from walking, but only pull the dead skin, not the entire bottom of my foot anymore!)

I know what you mean about the pain, although I shy away from any other sort of pain there is a type of satisfaction to it..

I'm going to look up OCD... see if anything rings true.

i pick at my feet like mad too, and the rest of my body.

i almost had no eyebrows for a minute cuz evertime i got stressed its either squeeze a pore or pull on my eyebrows.  for the feet, what helped was getting one of those rounded pumice type things or swedish files with a handle so i could sit there and do that when the urge struck and yet get pretty feet out of the bargain.  still pick at the face but people started noticing the eyebrows so i am **trying** to stop that one.

good luck!! (and really its usually not ocd but a form of a ... malignant coping mechanism.  ocd usually involves lots of repetitive motions that create anxiety if you dont do them, rather than motions that in some way help us alleviate anxiety... much more similar to pulling out ones hair or cutting than anything else--- and depending on the severity, a lot of cases would not be diagnosed as anything besides anxiety relieving behaviors, like cracking knuckles or rocking in place).

malignant coping mechanism, eh? hmmm... looking that up.

what you dont like me coining terms of art? :-p

no, i like it. it sounds very concise! :)

im decent with the purple prose lol.  i know there is a *real* term for it, besides self mutilation.... but..... it's lost in the nether.

My last roommate does that... she picks at the skin around her toenails and bites her fingernails and picks the skin around them until they bleed really bad. She has really bad anxiety that she refuses to take meds for.

It is NOT Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD is obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. I work with people who have that... and picking skin isn't that.

It is a form of self-mutilation... I think it's a form of dermatillomania. I have dermatillomani a, actually... but with my face, not my feet. I think it's the same kind of thing, though.

Try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatillomania

I pull out my eyelashes.... it looks awful if I pull too many out and I don't know why I do it.  Sometimes I do it because an eyelash is hurting and really bothering me so I try to pull out the problem eyelash and end up pulling out a lot more.  I also pick at my leg hairs because they are so dark and I am so pale and I want them to go away.  Now I have red bumps around my ankles that I hate.  :(

Lancitia, that looks right!  I know someone who does that.  I pick at hard skin but I stop if it hurts.

The only thing is, you can never know w/ Wikipedia, ya know?  I mean, can't anyone edit it?

Eeww, go see a doctor.

yeah anyone can edit wikipedia.

My suggestion, being in the field I am in, is if you think you have a problem, talk to your family doctor. They could recommend a psychologist/psychiatrist if needed.

Skin picking on any part of your body can be a sign of many things.  The degree of seriousness can vary from a simple bad habit to a more severe sign of something that needs to be addressed with professional inteventions.  Believe it or not, skin picking can be a side effect of medications--are you currently taking anything???  I think there are many of us out there who have been engaged in some type of picking behavior so I credit you that you shared this personal infomation with others.  I encourage you to find a 'replacement behavior' that you consiously set for yourself.  For example, once you 'catch yourself' picking your feet, tell yourself you have 1 minute only to 'get off whatever it is that is bothering your' and then you must put on socks.  It is hard, but allow yourself 1 minute and then get those sock on and take a short walk, or sweep the floor, or something else.  You have to begin taking control of this on your own....try your own behavioral interventions.  If you are damaging your skin and causing bleeding, you may eventually have to seek professional help.  But I encourage you to try to take steps to help yourself.  Good luck. 

I have been trying to find out more information about my own problem--which is picking at the skin on my heels.  I have done this for a long time (years) although the habit seems better and worse at times.  One thing I know for sure is that this is a form of self-mutilation.  I am a survivor of sexual abuse and in the past I have pulled out my eyebrows and eyelashes. Through therapy I have learned that skin picking is how I deal with anxiety and strong feelings. It  took many years in therapy to recover from my abusive past.  I was on disability for a while to give myself the time I needed to heal.  Now I continue my journey because I want to not just "live," but "live fully."  I have returned to therapy to learn how to practice self-kindness.  I want to find a way to move past the self-mutilation of picking.  I was glad to see that other people are dealing with the same issues.  There is hope for sure.  If I can survive the deep depression and despair that I went through, I can survive this too.  Thanks for your messages.

I have been picking the skin around my fingers since I was a child. I've tried so many thing to stop, but it's like it's part of me and I cannot let it go. I am ashamed of my fingers because they are often bleeding and missing chuncks of skin.