The Forums › Forums › Emotional Journey › Is It Just Me? › So embarassing…but skin picking, anyone? › Re: So embarassing…but skin picking, anyone?
I’ve always bitten my nails, except when I’m forking out a small fortune on getting & maintaining acrylic ones. For this reason, Girl Guides was always rather unpleasant for me, because the Inspection at the top of each meeting involved checking to see if you were in full uniform with hair neatly done—and if your nails were clean and unbitten. Every week, I’d get told, “Stop biting your nails”. This was tremendously helpful, particularly with my self-esteem issues. The fact that the Guide Leader was so concerned about my nail-biting, but did nothing to stop the other girls from bullying me at meetings, especially after their bullying in school had caused me to be transferred out of that school, meant that my stay in Girl Guides was a short one.
As for your question…
Compared to other compulsive behaviours like hair-pulling or cutting, popping zits is fairly benign. But it will lead to infection and scarring. Besides which, it really slows down the healing process. If you must pop, thoroughly wash your hands first, then use a sterilized pin and a sterilized warm washcloth. When you’re done, swab the area with alcohol to further sterilize it. Ideally, you shouldn’t pop at all, but it’s tough to remember that when you’re compelled to pop.
Have you thought of substitution?
Get yourself a roll of bubble wrap. When you feel the urge to pop zits, cut off a piece of bubble wrap, and pop away until you’ve popped every bubble on the piece. Even “normal” people feel the urge to pop bubble wrap, and get tremendous satisfaction from doing it. Maybe it’ll work for you.
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