Hi all! I have just realised recently that I am a skin picker and i've been doing it since i was 11 (that's 17 years). For some reason I never thought mush of it until now. I keep giving myself these horrid open holes which take many weeks to heal and i think it's the reason for a lot of my acne actually. I subconsciously run my hand over my skin all day on my face & back & scalp and scratch anywhere i feel even a tiny bump until it's gone. and each night in front of the mirror i scrutinise my face & poke & squeeze and scratch in an effort to get rid of my acne and have perfect skin when in fact there was hardly anything there until i started messing with it. then i feel so low because i've ruined my face & have big sore lumps & little open wounds so i start the 'self perfecting' skin picking again and the cycle goes on! On stubborn blemishes I even use a pin & nail clippers in an attempt to get the crap out of my pores because they just won't heal until it's all out. But actually i never should have started fecking about with them in the first place. This has to stop now.

Anyway i quit touching & fecking around with my skin last night, and am 16 hours pick-free! doesn't sound like a lot but i already feel proud & on the way to recovery, excited to just let my poor skin heal.

I can't wait to see my progress & i'm really hoping that my skin will thank me for it & stop flaring up so much. Acne makes me so sad & low in confidence it's only mild at the mo but it used to be severe before my accutane treatment 4 years ago, it's starting to come back over the last few months and i'm wondering if it's because of a bad (heart-renching!) breakup with my ex (and father of our child) and the fact that i have been turning to skin picking more than usual as a little escape from reality.

It's very hard to stop my hands wandering!! I think it will be quit hard over the next few days to leave the scabby bits alone!

Hope everyone is doing ok