Post by Fed up and stopped on Oct 26, 2003 10:01:38 GMT -5
Ok - I never ever post to anything but if it helps even one person who reads this it's worth it.
This is how I stopped:
The last straw was when I was at a conference with hundreds of people. I went to the bathroom and happened to look in the mirror. There was something on my face - a couple of eyelashes or something that nobody bothered to tell me about. I realized that my face looked so bad that nobody felt comfortalble enough to tell me that there was something on my face... how could they tell if it was scab / dry skin or what... Agh... I felt like a freak. My face was literally in ruins... it hurt. I had scabs. Something had to be done.
I looked on the Internet and found a self help web site... Here's what happened.
1. I joined stoppicking.com - $35 bucks a month but when I found it I found a little hope. It made me journal how many times a day I was picking / how long / etc. Looking at how much time I spent picking shocked me. (Hours - literally)
2. I started to tell my friends and family that I had an OCD thing and that I picked at my face. I mean really picked. Blood / scabs / scarring - the works. It helped to talk about it. It was kind of a humiliation / realization of how bad it had gotten. I mean, just talking about it made me feel kind of relieved. I am hurting myself I said... My mom put it best when she said this is like bullimia or something - but it manifests itself on your face... interesting... true I think... Talking to people made me feel better / made my problem seem solid and definable.
3. Next step is I went to my dermatologists - who had been treating me for years and never picked up on the fact that I was doing this to "myself"! I told him I can't stop picking. He suggested prozac... no fricking way I thought to myself. I asked him - just tell me what happens to a clogged pore if I don't pick at it. Will it go away on it's own? What about my scars / scabs... how long will it take for everything to heal? He looked at me and said - trust the medicine. He gave me Bactroban for scarring / a precription facewash for clogged pores and Benzycline for new things. He said that every day I don't pick my skin will look better. About three weeks for total healing. I just needed to hear that if you don't pick a pore - zit - whatever - that it will go away on it's own. He said if anything really huge came up he can inject it and make it go away in a day - but other than that - things on your skin will go away on their own. Hmmm...
4. I used the stuff he gave me that night and when I woke up in the morning my face looked a little better already. Since then I have not picked my face. It's been amazing - it took 3 days to really start to look and feel normal... only 3 days of not picking. I have not picked for over a week and every day my face looks better and better. It's amazing. I feel like a different person. I feel a lot more confident and relaxed. My make-up goes on smoothly and I'm not constantly thinking about the oozing sores on my face. I just went to a party last night and people kept telling me how great I looked.
End: I will never ever go back to picking. Ever. You guys, just stop. It seems like it will take forever for your face to heal but it won't. It won't. It takes days to see a difference if you just stop. Once the scabs dry up and go away you will be amazed at what happens. If you seriously do have acne - I did try accutane and it cleared up my skin perfectly - that was about a year ago - but accutane didn't stop me from picking. My point is acne can be cleared up with meds / your doctor. Picking can be stopped by you. Just do it. You know, really look at people... nobody has bump / pore free skin. NOBODY. Really take a look. Everyone has imperfections - they just don't pick at them. You don't have to either. Really. After accutant my face was perfectly clear... I have caused all the other problems on my own. You can fix it. You really really can. Thanks for listening and I hope this helps somebody out there.
P
This is how I stopped:
The last straw was when I was at a conference with hundreds of people. I went to the bathroom and happened to look in the mirror. There was something on my face - a couple of eyelashes or something that nobody bothered to tell me about. I realized that my face looked so bad that nobody felt comfortalble enough to tell me that there was something on my face... how could they tell if it was scab / dry skin or what... Agh... I felt like a freak. My face was literally in ruins... it hurt. I had scabs. Something had to be done.
I looked on the Internet and found a self help web site... Here's what happened.
1. I joined stoppicking.com - $35 bucks a month but when I found it I found a little hope. It made me journal how many times a day I was picking / how long / etc. Looking at how much time I spent picking shocked me. (Hours - literally)
2. I started to tell my friends and family that I had an OCD thing and that I picked at my face. I mean really picked. Blood / scabs / scarring - the works. It helped to talk about it. It was kind of a humiliation / realization of how bad it had gotten. I mean, just talking about it made me feel kind of relieved. I am hurting myself I said... My mom put it best when she said this is like bullimia or something - but it manifests itself on your face... interesting... true I think... Talking to people made me feel better / made my problem seem solid and definable.
3. Next step is I went to my dermatologists - who had been treating me for years and never picked up on the fact that I was doing this to "myself"! I told him I can't stop picking. He suggested prozac... no fricking way I thought to myself. I asked him - just tell me what happens to a clogged pore if I don't pick at it. Will it go away on it's own? What about my scars / scabs... how long will it take for everything to heal? He looked at me and said - trust the medicine. He gave me Bactroban for scarring / a precription facewash for clogged pores and Benzycline for new things. He said that every day I don't pick my skin will look better. About three weeks for total healing. I just needed to hear that if you don't pick a pore - zit - whatever - that it will go away on it's own. He said if anything really huge came up he can inject it and make it go away in a day - but other than that - things on your skin will go away on their own. Hmmm...
4. I used the stuff he gave me that night and when I woke up in the morning my face looked a little better already. Since then I have not picked my face. It's been amazing - it took 3 days to really start to look and feel normal... only 3 days of not picking. I have not picked for over a week and every day my face looks better and better. It's amazing. I feel like a different person. I feel a lot more confident and relaxed. My make-up goes on smoothly and I'm not constantly thinking about the oozing sores on my face. I just went to a party last night and people kept telling me how great I looked.
End: I will never ever go back to picking. Ever. You guys, just stop. It seems like it will take forever for your face to heal but it won't. It won't. It takes days to see a difference if you just stop. Once the scabs dry up and go away you will be amazed at what happens. If you seriously do have acne - I did try accutane and it cleared up my skin perfectly - that was about a year ago - but accutane didn't stop me from picking. My point is acne can be cleared up with meds / your doctor. Picking can be stopped by you. Just do it. You know, really look at people... nobody has bump / pore free skin. NOBODY. Really take a look. Everyone has imperfections - they just don't pick at them. You don't have to either. Really. After accutant my face was perfectly clear... I have caused all the other problems on my own. You can fix it. You really really can. Thanks for listening and I hope this helps somebody out there.
P
But Im trying and your post is very good. Im going to just try and go 'cold turkey' LoL and see what happens:0)