Compulsive Scab Picking

**Mickmeister** · 09-04-07, 09:32 AM

Does anyone else here pick your scabs continuously? I have that problem all of the time. Sometimes, a sore will stay there for literally months. The last time we went camping, which was in May, chiggers got my ankles really bad. I scratched them until they were raw. Since then, I have continuously picked the scabs off. They have finally healed up almost four months later. I don't know if it is seeing the blood, the pain of picking or what I get out of doing it.

**Orleander** · 09-04-07, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

..I scratched them until they were raw. ...

OMG, my husband is the same way. He just can't leave it alone. I keep telling him he looks like a meth addict.
I think its his OCD.

**redarmy11** · 09-04-07, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

Does anyone else here pick your scabs continuously?

Most of them.

**S.A.M.** · 09-04-07, 10:00 AM

Me too.

**~~EmptyForceOfChi~~** · 09-04-07, 10:09 AM

rub the most powerfull hot sauce into the wound before it scabs up. i had to sleep with my hands in a bag of frozen peas, it burned so bad.

PS dont do it i was joking it hurts alot.

peace.

**Orleander** · 09-04-07, 10:58 AM

what's up with that???
My Mom smacked my hands often enough as a kid that I learned not to. I have enough chicken pox scars to remind me why I shouldn't.
Do men do it more than women due to a vanity thing?

**~~John99~~** · 09-04-07, 11:12 AM

I have not gotten a scab since i was 12, none real bad but even then i would not pick at it. Just no interest in it.

**Exploradora** · 09-04-07, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

Does anyone else here pick your scabs continuously? I have that problem all of the time. Sometimes, a sore will stay there for literally months. The last time we went camping, which was in May, chiggers got my ankles really bad. I scratched them until they were raw. Since then, I have continuously picked the scabs off. They have finally healed up almost four months later. I don't know if it is seeing the blood, the pain of picking or what I get out of doing it.

Sounds like self-injury. Here's a link.

http://www.selfinjury.com/sifacts.htm

Definition:
Self-injury is also termed self-mutilation, self-harm or self-abuse. The behavior is defined as the deliberate, repetitive, impulsive, non-lethal harming of one’s self. Self-injury includes but is not limited to: 1) cutting; 2) scratching; 3) picking scabs or interfering with wound healing; 4) burning; 5) punching self or objects; 6) infecting oneself; 7) inserting objects in skin; 8) bruising or breaking bones; and 9) some forms of hair-pulling. These behaviors, which pose serious risks, may be symptoms of a mental health problem that can be treated.

**~~EmptyForceOfChi~~** · 09-04-07, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Exploradora

Sounds like self-injury. Here's a link.

http://www.selfinjury.com/sifacts.htm

so when i punch objects its actualy a form of self harm and a problem?. i thought i just like punching things.

peace.

**Medicine*Woman** · 09-04-07, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

Does anyone else here pick your scabs continuously? I have that problem all of the time. Sometimes, a sore will stay there for literally months. The last time we went camping, which was in May, chiggers got my ankles really bad. I scratched them until they were raw. Since then, I have continuously picked the scabs off. They have finally healed up almost four months later. I don't know if it is seeing the blood, the pain of picking or what I get out of doing it.

*************
M*W: It's probably an OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). You have the urge to pick your scabs, and it becomes a repetitive action. It feels good, and you can't stop. Pleasure and pain are a close knit pair. Scab picking is less socially scorned than say nose picking. I've studied the unusual habits of people, mostly women, who derive pleasure and pain from such activities as hair picking, skin cutting, hand washing, nail biting, and even shopping obsessive compulsively. I knew a woman who sliced her arms with razor blades, not enough to commit suicide, but just enough to cause pain and bleeding. She couldn't quit. Another woman I knew picked at the same scab on her elbow until it grew to about a quarter size scar. There is some sort of gratification people get from this type of behavior. There's really not much difference between monkeys in the zoo picking the skin of other monkeys and humans who pick at something on themselves and others. How many people do you know who cannot control themselves when a family member has a zit to squeeze? It's part of our animal nature. It's when it becomes a regular habit out of control that becomes abnormal.

Out of curiosity and interest in this subject of human behavior, what other kinds of picking have any of you seen?

**Why?** · 09-04-07, 01:55 PM

Ear picking. Eye lash picking. Nail picking. Lip picking. Ass picking.

**Orleander** · 09-04-07, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by Medicine*Woman

....How many people do you know who cannot control themselves when a family member has a zit to squeeze?...

Yep, that's me. I see them on total strangers and I just want to volunteer my zit popping services.

**Oniw17** · 09-04-07, 02:20 PM

I also pick my scabs.

**Orleander** · 09-04-07, 02:20 PM

LOL, My Mom would smack the crap outta all of you.

**Deathfromabove** · 09-04-07, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

Does anyone else here pick your scabs continuously?

I have forgotton the medical term for compulsive scab picking, but i am ADDICTED to picking my scabs from scalp.

. I relax my hair and sometimes it leaves burns on my scalp resulting loads scabs. My hand is always in my hair searching for scabs or sores to dig at.

I especially love searching for scabs in the morning because all the sores i have had time to heal and are scabilicious.

**one_raven** · 09-04-07, 03:55 PM

Heroin junkies do it.
Are you riding the white horse?

**DaveC426913** · 09-04-07, 03:55 PM

Cool. A forum to come out in.

I think I was a dermatologist in a former life. I cannot resist zits - and I am in my 40's. Hunting for them is a routine part of my day - not a lot really, but every time I use the bathroom I might spend 5-10 minutes scouring my face and scalp for the sneaky ones - the ones that don't have any surface signs.

Don't get me started...

**Looney** · 09-04-07, 05:08 PM

Oh, Dave that will just make them spread and get worse. As for you people who could pick other people's zits; eeeek! Gross! My husband once had a honker of a zit on his back with a huge pustule on it. He couldn't reach it so I had to do he honors. I was gagging. Blah! Never again. He can get a doctor to drain it.

**DaveC426913** · 09-04-07, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by Looney

Oh, Dave that will just make them spread and get worse.

What? Like a wart?

Originally Posted by Looney

As for you people who could pick other people's zits; eeeek! Gross! My husband once had a honker of a zit on his back with a huge pustule on it. He couldn't reach it so I had to do he honors. I was gagging. Blah! Never again. He can get a doctor to drain it.

A sure sign that your spouse loves you is when they will get the zits that you can't.