Dealing With Dermatillomania

I’ve had a burn on my leg for about two weeks now and recently it’s been hurting worse than usual. Almost, if not all of my wounds get infected bc I pick at them and don’t care for them, but the one on my leg has caused so much pain that I can’t stand on it without intense pressure and burning. I also don’t talk about my derma with anyone, not even my therapist. But it’s been so painful I mentioned it to her and after asking me a few questions she decided I should go to the urgent care to get antibiotics. So I did. And then I even asked her to be my accountability buddy with taking care of it. So for honestly the first time ever, I properly bandaged my wound. (Now I took it off a few hours later but the deal was once a day I text to say I wrapped it) So at least I’m doing more than usual !

Ok TW for talking about scabs but I have no where else to talk about this so I gotta lol.

Have you ever heard of antioxidant supplements being used to treat dermatillomania? My psychiatrist recently prescribed me some when I talked to her about it (more specifically showed her how fucked my back is). Unfortunately, stomach issues can be a symptom if you start at a high dose, which is required to actually work, so I'm at a low dose that doesn't yet make a difference. There's been success with N-acetylcysteine as treatment for derma, so I've got my fingers crossed.

Re: the tiktok comments... I'm so sorry you've gotta deal with that. People can be so ignorant, especially online. Please try to not let it get to you too much—it was brave of you to put yourself out there, and there will always be people who love you for all that you are ♥️

A video of mine blew up on tik tok and it showed my bare legs. People have been commenting about how awful they look, how im a t*eaker, how it looks like I got into a fight with a bear, that I ran out of room on my arms, that I'm on meth. And so so much more.

I pick my fingers a lot (idk for sure if I have derma but the more I look into it the more I think I might) as well as my face and my mom always just says in the 'mom voice' to stop. How do I tell her I literally /need/ to pick the skin?

I learnt about dermatillomania recently, and although I don't pick at my scalp, legs, or some of the commonly listed areas, I have picked at the soles of my feet, face, arms, back and fingers to the point of mild scarring. Do you think I could still have it even though I don't pick for hours at a time or at commonly listed places? Sorry for long ask, I'm just very stressed about it x

Hey this isn’t really a question but I have dermatillomania and I’m really self conscious about the scabs and dry skin on my face that happen after I pick it. I found that concealer helps hide it and feel less self conscious but it doesn’t hide scabs and dry skin well, so what I do is I take some medicated chapstick and rub it on the scabs. It helps to heal it and also helps the skin not look so rough or noticeable once you put concealer over it. Hope this helps someone

I pick at the skin on the bottom of my feet as well as my back. (I will pick at my face but recently I’ve gotten into some better habits to avoid making it worse.) This last week I pulled so much from both of my feet that it is difficult for me to walk. What is something I can say to friends when they ask about my wobbling? Thank you in advance!