Permanent Red spots

[kdh714]

Hi there,
I am new to this group and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to know I'm not alone!

Anyone have advice about minimizing the look of permanent red bumps?

I have one big one on my cheek, I jokingly call it my perma-pimple, but it is embarassing and too dark to be covered by concealer. Any advice/meds that help with this? (not just a scar, but a raised red bump?)

Thanks everyone for being so open about this, I have been picking for over a decade and have been too ashamed to talk to anyone about it. Its the first thing I do in the morning and I can't go to sleep until I have checked my arms, shoulders, legs, chest and face, and if there are no pimples to be found, then I pick at old scars, or pluck hair from my legs with tweezers. I even pick at razor bumps after I shave my underarms or bikini line. I feel so gross when I look at my body and see the remnants of my picking, but can't seem to stop.

Thanks for listening.

[erbear1925]

First of all - I do the same things!! Even the razor bumps... I dig at them with tweezers. I am trying to stop.
ANyway, you may be able to bleach the redness of the bump using regular old white toothpaste on it overnight. I have done that before. It's not permanent, but it helps.

[bluegem]

i pick at razor bumps too and it's the first thing i do in the morning...frustrating, because then i feel like i've ruined the day and may as well not bother trying to quit. but yea, i've been using facial exfoliator quite regularly lately and i've found it's reducing my scars on my face. they aren't really bad anyway, but enough that i feel embarrassed about them and concealer doesn't work wonderfully. exfoliation also gets rid of those flaky bits that you really really want to pick at, so it stops you picking so badly. i don't know if it will help you because it might be a different sort of scar, but it makes my face feel so much nicer generally and i seem to be getting less pimples ;D i think it just seems to help the newer scars, but even if it doesn't help your perma-pimple, it might help the others!

[moon]

i have a combination of creams mixed togther from the derm (2 rx, 1 otc)..the red/purple spots are finally starting to fade..but it has taken about a year

[reformedpicker]

I used to be soooo bad about those bikini line ingrown hairs. Poor things- I never really gave them the chance to fix themselves- at the first sign I was ready to perform 'forced extraction'!

Then I found this stuff called Tend Skin- you can get it at Ulta or Sephora. It's about $20 a bottle, but works miracles on ingrown hairs- much less traumatic for those hairs that cause the bumps! It's like an astringent but somehow exfoliates the hair right on out- painlessly.

The trick, for me anyway, is to use it regularly- when I get out of the shower I dry off, put Tend Skin on a cotton ball and swipe over the bikini line, then put on my lotion.

If you wait and use it when an ingrown appears you may be more likely to pick it- this keeps it from ever occuring.

[ellie]

This is amazing! I have been doing the same things for years - I dread the bikini season, and I was convinced I was the only person in the world with this terrible habit! Reformedpicker- that's really good advice about the ingrown hair stuff - i've discovered something similar called IngrowGo (i live in the UK) which I got from a salon for £15 (for the benefit of all the other Brit pickers!) - fortunately my bikini line is looking better now.

Last summer I spent two weeks on the beach and got a really great tan - with the amazing side effect of getting rid of ALL my scars from my legs, arms and bikini line! For the first time in years I had perfect skin (and spoilt in all within two weeks of wearing trousers again such an idiot!!)

I am going away for a beach holiday again with my new-ish boyfriend and some of his friends - and I dread them seeing me, especially my lower legs, which are awful - covered in really angry purple marks (and a few craters from where I've gouged out the hair - how sick is that?!) So I've been using a sunbed (whcih I know is probably really silly, especially since I'm very fair and my skin is sensitive), but I need a quick fix, and I can't find any creams or anything (that Mederma stuff sounds great, but no online store will ship to the UK). Anyway - it is having some effect - slowly - because I'm so pale I can't use the bed more than once a week max. I'm going away in six weeks' time - does anyone know of anything else I could try??!! You're all such lovely people - I can't tell you what a relief it's been to realise I'm not alone! xx

[raerae]

hey ellie, my fellow brit picker!

i looked up mederma cos i wanted to get some too- i didnt get around to it but i found this site and they have a phone no. for customers outside of the us, so maybe they will ship here?

freshskincare.com/newfresh/mederma.htm

otherwise exfoliate like a mad fiend and slap on as much good quality cocoa butter as you can absorb, lol ?!!! im really into cocoa butter at the moment- so convinced its reducing the marks on my upper arm (i use palmers cocoa butter with vitamin e, and a salt scrub exfoliant).

btw did you read that thing in the tabloids last weekend about that new drug that has been developed that gives you a natural tan, without the need for sun exposure?! it has the (truly terrible...!) side effects of weight loss and increased sex drive. sounds fabulous... i want a prescription!

[ellie]

raerae - i have my tub of palmers, and I'm mixing up the sea salt and olive oil (almost!) as we speak! Might try the tanning place in Covent Garden - well, just finished the most evil exams of my course, so reckon my picking has peaked for teh near future (hope!!), so might as well a) spoil myself! ;D and b) hit the scars hard with the cocoa butter, exfoliant and tanning treatements. I want clear skin SO BADLY!! i haven't picked my legs for a week (ok, maybe just a couple of teeny squeezes, but nothing that left a mark), but i get so depressed when i look at them, hoping they will have magically recovered overnight, and they're still this ugly mess of red/brown/purple holes and bumps, and that's not even thinking about the healed up holes in my face and everywhere else that show up in sunlight.... It's not fair!! Why do i have to be such a freak??

Hope you're all doing well...

ellie x

[raerae]

oops sorry, my hand slipped!

well done on getting through the exams, ellie! and yes, you totally deserve to spoil yourself

happy scrubbing! rae xxx

[raerae]

ellie,

i had a gp appointment this a.m. and in the waiting room i noticed a leaflet about a scar reduction gel called dermatix- sounds like it might be similar to mederma. it is available over the counter in the uk.

more info at dermatix.co.uk

rae xxx

[ellie]

rae lovey - you're a diamond! ;D

ellie

[AJ]

Hi - I'm new to this site but I, too, pick at every little ingrown hair or bump and have scars to back it all up. I read about every cream and conconction known to man that may reduce scars, wrinkles, freckles, you name it. I've given up on quick fixes, it was getting too expensive. There is a product by BeautiControl, though, that is supposed to be good for lightening scars and Rosecia. I can't remember the name right now though, Derma-something. I can't confirm that it works, I didn't really give it much of a chance, but my friend uses it regularly and it works for her - she has some acne and sun damage. I do use a product calld "PC95" cream. I think it works, you can get it at www.roex.com. I've used it off and on for a couple of years and when I use it regularly the scars start to fade - I only use it on my face. I also have LOTS of freckles and sun spots, heredity, and when I use the PC95 on the big sun spots they do fade. I'm also a big believer in the the Clarins products, their night creams and day firming lotion seem to clear up some of the spots I've created on my forehead. I've been told I have great skin, except for the red spots I create, so maybe these things work! I'm a huge mind-over-matter person when it comes to facial products though and I totally love Clarins. I'd recommend the PC95 though, it's a natural product and supplement used in pill form for healing and it really does seem to help.

PS - I live in Florida - shorts weather all the time - I hate it when the bugs start to bite - I pick at those too.

Good luck everyone!

[ruinedmyjob]

laura mercier secret concealer from saks covers ANYTHING>>>>>

[MynX]

I used dermablend to cover a tattoo for a wedding once (and yes when i got my tattoo i picked at THAT as well )
it seems to cover very well. I think they have it at department store cosmetics counters, if its still sold.

[Marie]

I was so happy to find this site. I also use Tend Skin on my bikini line. I just recently got a tattoo and picked at it so bad. So i started using pure vitamin E oil and it helps if i can just stop picking off the scaps. I have that mederma stuff but haven't tried it yet.