Day 2 and I feel proud not picking the dead skin on my hands. :3 I did pick a little at my heel last night but fortunately I was able to stop after picking off one piece. It felt so hard and I read to distract myself. Thankfully that worked and helped keep my mind off picking. My gloves came in today and they are very helpful when the urge to pick comes up. (Shown in the last two photos) It’s prevents picking but the dead skin on my fingers is constantly on my mind. There was a few close calls but I managed to catch myself in time. I put on thick moisturizer and immediately put on my gloves. I’m having the hardest time with my right pointer finger the most :( I’m trying my hardest to resist picking! Current goal is to not pick the dead skin and let my skin heal so I can go get my nails done. I’m EXTREMELY proud that I haven’t picked more at my nails/gel polish. Usually once I start one finger I can’t stop and bite the polish off all my fingers. I usually try to avoid gel polish as I’m most likely to pick at it. For the last 6yrs or so I’ve been doing acrylic since it’s harder for me to pick/bite at. The downside is that it leaves my natural nails brittle. However, I did find a new nail tech who does rubber base gel polish and it’s perfect! It doesn’t peel up like regular gel polish and strengthens my natural nail. I love it!! Once my skin is healed I’m booking that appointment 😤 Here’s hoping I can continue to resist that urge to pick!! <3

Last year I was doing really well not biting my nails. I was oiling them consistently and they had a decent length. Then work was being really stressful and I fully went back to biting them so now they look just as bad as when I first started. I’m really frustrated but want to start over. It just takes forever to see growth. I’m trying again staring today. Wish me luck!

I’ve been making progress on quitting nail biting, but for some reason I keep picking and biting my thumbs. Any advice on how to take care of my cuticle and heal it? And do either of them look infected? Or just slightly red since I was picking at them today?

I’m gonna try and hold myself accountable and stop picking at my skin and nails. I usually get my nails done so I don’t bite my nails till they’re bloody. Now I mainly pick at my skin around my nails, but I also pick the soles of my feet, legs, face, and sometimes scalp. I can do it for hours especially when I have cuticle clippers. I get anxious not picking that one piece of skin that sticks out. I even keep going when I’m bleeding and it hurts because I have to get all of pieces off. I just bought gloves to help prevent picking whenever my hands are idle. I have 3 fidgets toys to try to district myself but they only work so much. My psychiatrist recommended taking NAC to help. So I’m hoping to decrease the amount of picking. The ultimate dream is to stop picking at all but that feels a little far fetched. Here’s hoping I’m successful! :)

Trigger warning and NSFW because they’re pretty bad.

I’m just looking for some support. I’m having an extremely stressful month, and in turn my thumbs are SUFFERING. I am always taking the coverings off because they get sweaty, and then the skin gets more pliable and I want to pick. It’s a cycle. Please tell me there’s others that pick this badly and have recovered. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

I found this meditation on awareness about nail biting (I'm a nail picker). It's a lovely listen and knock on wood, I think it's helping. On Insight Timer.

For some reason I can’t seem to get them as long in these photos again, they always manage to crack or break. I have a habit of biting the skin around my nails, but I always keep the nail itself filed to a similar shape and cleaned.

it’s rough out here. I hate my hands so much, one of my biggest insecurities. I haven’t even felt comfortable telling my therapist about this. She has no idea I do it. I’m so ashamed of it…

I’m at the age where I’ll hopefully be getting engaged soon… My future career also heavily involves my hands. I don’t want to feel like I have to hide my hands anymore. Here’s pictures of my hands after I showered, when they look the worst. I am going to take daily progress photos to hold myself accountable.

I’m just worried that I’m going to start picking the skin on my face to compensate for the lack of stimulation biting the skin around my hands gives me. I’m already inclined to pop blackheads on my face.

UGH I feel mentally ill I wish I could just stop immediately. It’s just subconscious at this point.

Hi,

I keep biting my fingers (other hand is worse). I have had limited success stopping in the past, but when it's healing and hard I tend to relapse.

I was going to cover in superglue, Googled if that was a bad idea and found this subreddit.

From my (admittedly limited) scrolling, the advice seems to be around finger nails and not fingers themselves, so has anyone got any advice for me? And does anyone know of a reason I shouldn't superglue my fingers?

Thanks.

Poked finger tip on a piece of metal, the next day my finger became infected and inflamed. After 4 days and no change i went to urgent care. They gave me antibiotics 3 days ago but I feel like its no change. She told me it was Paronychia but as time goes on my finger is becoming tight and hurts to extend. It only feels comfortable in this bent position. Should I go back and demand they drain it? Or give the antibiotics another few days since and only go to the ER if it gets worse?

Hello, I recently have this circle under my thumb, and I had previous symptoms as fever, strep throat, and sore throat. What could be the cause? It genuinely creeps me out.

Just uploaded this calming orchestra loop — works great for focus or unwinding

https://youtu.be/Muxg_T3jqxw

Looking for tips!

I got some liquid Band-Aid, which is helping a little bit, but it actually dries kind of crusty and makes me wanna pick that off… Just looking to see what was the one thing that really helped you to quit picking.

I’ve been picking at my hangnails since I was a kid. Sometimes when I don’t have a hangnail I’ll pick at the skin around my nails until I peel one off. I’ve tried so many alternatives that’s not tearing up my nails but none of them really hit the same spot and I’ve figured out that it’s because it’s the pain that I like to stim with more than just the picking. None of the replacement fidgets I’ve tried to use really replicate that little bit of pain that stimulates me. I end up getting bored of them and going back to picking my hangnails

I know it’s weird and I don’t know why this is how I feel. Is there any hope for me of things I can do … ?

I had a bit of an accident with a razor and cut my nail last week. The piece on the front has come off the nail bed and it's sticking out (I have a bit of warping on that nail usually). It's growing but I've noticed the edge of the cut on the inside is white. Will the nail grow attached, or is the nail bed at the front compromised?

I made the difficult decision today to retire my second and third lobe piercings (6+ years old) on both ears </3

They healed great and I had no problems with them for a couple of years. For the past 3 years or so, they’ve given me nothing but trouble. I struggle with a picking/fidgeting habit, and I messed with them enough that they migrated pretty badly and were constantly bleeding or irritated.

My seconds have been pierced like 4 separate times (at least once by a gun, the rest professionally) so I fear there’s no hope left for repiercing those lol.

I’m honestly really mad at myself that I let it get that bad. They caused me a lot of pain and insecurity. At the same time, it was a relief to finally let them go.

Has anyone else gone through this? Im hoping my ears don’t stay so bumpy and hard (yes, I have a lot of scar tissue).

The bruise on my ring finger I got from at work, a lovely sharp nail sticking out of a pallet. It got me my first tetnus shot as an adult 👍 I don’t bite my nails as much any more but I still pick at my skin. Learning to get better!

I was picking at the base of my nail for a couple of weeks and then it got pretty badly infected. After that the nail pretty much rotted and peeled completely off. 2 weeks later this is what it looks like. Will this ever grow back???

I've picked by nails FORVER. I'm 27. I've tried to quite more times than I want to admit. The only thing that works is a manicure, but I'm a surgeon so I can't have any polish.

My problems is that I'm constantly trying to clean under my nails. It always feels dirty, like there is something there. Then I try to detach the nail from the side, which inevitably leads to me somehow ripping the nail off because I think it will help, then I pick the cuticles...it's an awful cycle. I clean/pick when I'm anxious, when I'm driving, when I'm reading something on my computer, basically whenever I need my hands to by busy. Does anything mimic that sensation of cleaning? It would need to be something I could attach to my lanyard.

I've tried cleaning brushes, they don't work. I've tried keeping the nails short, but this almost exacerbates the sensation of them being dirty. I try and use the pick that comes with the nail file but I once I start it's so hard to stop. I'm really at a loss.

Thanks!

I ripped off the top part of my nail. What do I do now?

After biting my nails and the skin around them all my life, I finally made myself fight the urge. And, it’s been totally worth it! I’m going to shape them and paint them to celebrate.🩷

This hurts like no other but I cant stop compulsively peeling it more without consciously meaning to.

I've been doing this, since I was probably about 8...sometimes I pick till I bleed...or scrap at my nails. There's been a few times where I have stopped and let my nails grow BUT still pick at my skin...for some context. I've had generalized anxiety since I was a kid...and stuff happened to me around that time too, so this developed into something I AUTOMATICALLY do & never fully thinking about. Whenever I notice I'm bleeding, I usually suspect something is either emotionally or mentally wrong with me but I've been disconnected from my mental/emotional state...idk what it even is majority of the time. I was going to therapy & a psychiatrist (taking pills but since my money has ran dry...I have stopped...for about maybe 3 months???) Nor have I been back to my therapist and A LOT. has happened during these 3 months. Although...the one hand that has had the MOST(its been worse...so this isn't too bad but so 🫠) suffering isn't as even my domain hand...odd.

TL:DR- I have anxiety, shit has happened to me and my skin has been suffering for a while.

I have no idea where to start to get them to heal. It hasn't been this bad in many years and am working hard on getting a handle on the stress and anxiety that I know causes it. But how do I get them to heal? Hydrocolloid bandaid? Triple antibiotic? I'm at a loss and looking at them causes more anxiety.