Hi guys! A year and a half ago I was on accutane and actually tried to do this skin picking challenge, but failed 
However, with prom, summer, and college right around the corner, I really need to solve this issue. I've come to the conclusion I need to get to the bottom of what is actually causing my compulsive skin picking in order to fix the issue. Starting tomorrow, April 24, I'm going to keep a daily log on here of my journey through this. I was thinking of going to see my school psychiatrist about this and see if she has any ideas on how to figure out what is causing this maybe? Right now, I'm currently using Retin A (which is helping my skin so much but it only works so well if I keep picking) and Junel birth control. If anyone has any advice, please tell! Or if you have any ideas for questions I should ask myself to get to the root of the cause that would be super helpful. Thanks everyone!
Day 1: I DID IT! I went one full day without picking, which is a huge accomplishment for. Today in class I noticed myself scanning my jawline and quickly stopped once I was conscious of it. The hardest part was during my nightly shower, since I notice I commonly pick off healing scabs in the shower. My face is definitely a little dry and peely from the Retin A, but besides that it's already getting better. I'm going to add pics every single day of my face to see how it's improving. I took some with flash right after my shower, so my scars look a lot worse than they do in person since the shower made them more prominent. From the pictures you'll be able to see it's pretty much all healing acne/healing scars. Also, my daily regimen for the morning is Cetaphil Daily Face Wash (NOT the gentle cleanser), Dermalogica Active Moist Face Moisturizer, and then some concealer and powder and at night I do the same (minus the make up) and then use Retin A on top of my lotion.
Day 2: Today I did really well! I technically didn't "pick" (didn't pop any pimples) but I did peel away some dead skin/scratch off falling off scabs. There was only one scab (on my forehead) that I scratched at that I shouldn't have but besides that I did really well. I just used a light microabrasion scrub on my face (I know I know you aren't supposed to with Retin A) and I did it very gently to just get off the dead skin that was already peeling off. My skin feels sooo smooth and nice. However, my face is a little red since I literally just scrubbed/washed my face. It looks a little worse than yesterday since it's extra red, but it did look slightly better throughout the day. I think maybe I should post pictures every 3 days or once a week?
Day 4: When I woke up I noticed a few super tiny pimples on my chin so I dabbed some Retin A on them to dry them out instead of popping them. The scarring is pretty much the same, but it has only been a few days. I can feel an under the skin pimple on my cheek forming, and I have no urge to pick at it! Hopefully the Retin A keeps it small and makes it go away.
Day 5: Posting this the morning after, but I'm really disappointed in myself. I picked. The under the skin pimple on my cheek was hurting so I decided to be stupid and pop it. Obviously it didn't pop and it's just this big red irritated bump. I then picked at my entire face. I'm going to do Day 6, but after that I'm going to start over at Day 1. I cried for a little out of frustration and self hatred, but I know I can do this. I just need to stop even touching my face and only look in the mirror in the morning while doing my make up.
Hey there, don't beat yourself up! quitting picking is SO hard...theres no nicotine patches or AA meetings, its all your own willpower. i just finished a second course of accutane and i think I'm the1% of people it did not work for (are ya freakin kidding me) and i used to pick at my skin really badly. my skin seems like its balancing out a little now that I'm off of it and have stopped picking, but my hyper pigmentation from the past and picking is haunting me and i wish i could take it back! i have one spot in particular on my cheek that was an under the skin thing a long time ago and i thought i could get it out and it turned into a mess and now its dark dark brown and i still have to deal with it, so from now on try to keep your hands off. Try to find your triggers and times of the day your likely to pick and only allow yourself to get so close to a mirror. doing so will give you a mental jumpstart ahead of your picking. If you pick in the shower, limit yourself to a cold quick shower or using only the water and not letting your hands touch your face at all. Also, i took and printed pictures of myself with a torn up face and put it on my mirror just as a last resort so if i went to pick I had a fast forward button of what my face would look like in an hour. seeing my face at its worse looking back at me prevented me from ever wanting to go back to that place no matter how much my anxieties and stress wanted me to pick.Once you go after one, i know how it is, its just a domino effect so you gotta nip it in the bud! I have found doing adult coloring books or painting or playing an instrument , going for a walk, baking literally anything you can do to rewire your brain from picking. right now, your brain has been reinforced that "breakout-----pick-----relief" you want to train it so that its "breaout----leave alone-----goes away/relief" and that takes some time and strength. remember, the goal of clearer beautiful skin far outweighs the temporary relief of picking. it might take little steps. theres going to me some setbacks. just take it one day at a time. you CAN do this, i really believe in you and i know no one has responded so i wanted to let you know as a silent follower I have all the faith in the world that you'll beat this thing. hang in there, let your skin heal, and hands off!
On 4/29/2017 at 1:08 PM, GracieP said:Hey there, don't beat yourself up! quitting picking is SO hard...theres no nicotine patches or AA meetings, its all your own willpower. i just finished a second course of accutane and i think I'm the1% of people it did not work for (are ya freakin kidding me) and i used to pick at my skin really badly. my skin seems like its balancing out a little now that I'm off of it and have stopped picking, but my hyper pigmentation from the past and picking is haunting me and i wish i could take it back! i have one spot in particular on my cheek that was an under the skin thing a long time ago and i thought i could get it out and it turned into a mess and now its dark dark brown and i still have to deal with it, so from now on try to keep your hands off. Try to find your triggers and times of the day your likely to pick and only allow yourself to get so close to a mirror. doing so will give you a mental jumpstart ahead of your picking. If you pick in the shower, limit yourself to a cold quick shower or using only the water and not letting your hands touch your face at all. Also, i took and printed pictures of myself with a torn up face and put it on my mirror just as a last resort so if i went to pick I had a fast forward button of what my face would look like in an hour. seeing my face at its worse looking back at me prevented me from ever wanting to go back to that place no matter how much my anxieties and stress wanted me to pick. Once you go after one, i know how it is, its just a domino effect so you gotta nip it in the bud! I have found doing adult coloring books or painting or playing an instrument , going for a walk, baking literally anything you can do to rewire your brain from picking. right now, your brain has been reinforced that "breakout-----pick-----relief" you want to train it so that its "breaout----leave alone-----goes away/relief" and that takes some time and strength. remember, the goal of clearer beautiful skin far outweighs the temporary relief of picking. it might take little steps. theres going to me some setbacks. just take it one day at a time. you CAN do this, i really believe in you and i know no one has responded so i wanted to let you know as a silent follower I have all the faith in the world that you'll beat this thing. hang in there, let your skin heal, and hands off!
This means sooo much to me 
I was supposed to start over this morning but of course right when I woke up I picked. I'm determined to get through this but this response made me feel a lot better!
Update: Today was a very bad day... I got home from school and picked. A LOT. I don't know what to do with myself. I think the only time I can look in the mirror is in the morning while doing my make up and never again for the rest of the day. It's really difficult because the Retin-A is making my skin so flakey and dry, so I feel the need to pick/peel it off, along with scabs. My skin looks horrendous right now, and prom is in a month. I need to do this and I'm determined to do so. I'll sit on my hands in class if I feel the need to touch my face. In the shower I need to just not touch my face, even if it's peeling a ton. I'll start over with day 1 tomorrow.
Do you feel wriggly on uour skin,tickles or other attraction to your skin?
i can see you are pretty young woman,you are spoiling yourself and in the years to come you will have to deal with feeling ugly,sorting your silly mistakes out and that can last years and could be costly.
change your habits which i can tell your trying to do but hows about,change if diet,hygene?
fingers on face is a big no no!
if you change these things the niggles you get say,from your skin on your face that attracts your fingers could or will stop.
let us know how it gos.
3 hours ago, Quadboy said:Do you feel wriggly on uour skin,tickles or other attraction to your skin?
i can see you are pretty young woman,you are spoiling yourself and in the years to come you will have to deal with feeling ugly,sorting your silly mistakes out and that can last years and could be costly.
change your habits which i can tell your trying to do but hows about,change if diet,hygene?
fingers on face is a big no no!
if you change these things the niggles you get say,from your skin on your face that attracts your fingers could or will stop.
let us know how it gos.
Yes actually if I don't touch my face the spots with acne feel sooo itchy.... Of course making it even more difficult. Today was better though
Day 1: No pimple popping However, I did pick all the scabs on my face off, but none of them were deep scabs so they'll be fine tomorrow. If I don't pick at all, there won't be anymore scabs in the first place! Also, I've decided to stop washing my face since my skin is already being dried out so much from the Retin-A. I'm proud of myself, and I really can't wait for this to get better. Hopefully the hyperpigmentation will fade decently within the next month for prom!!
I also just ordered a 2% hydroquinone lotion to use to lighten all the scars. I did a lot of research on Retin-A in conjunction with hydroquinone, and some of the reviews of the product I ordered said they used both Retin-A a and hydroquinone together and it worked wonders. I think I also need to get a better face moisturizer for nighttime to help the peeling? If anyone has any advice it would be very appreciated! I heard the It cosmetics "confidence in a cream" face cream is really good? Unfortunately it's $50.... Oh well I might go to Ulta and buy it tomorrow and return it if I don't like it!
Lots of posting today (oops), but I decided to add some new day 1 photos since this is a fresh start. I hate to say this but I feel like my skin looks a little better in these photos than in person? Hopefully the left side of my face will heal in the next couple of days. Also, for the past 3 days I haven't been using Retin-A because my skin was sooo dry, but I used it tonight.
Day 2: Today was a very tempting day for picking because I have 3 pimples that are completely at a head. I got the It cosmetics cream, and so far it's really moisturizing but not at all greasy. However, my mom told me the dermatologist told her that I shouldn't use lotion with the Retin-A at night. I'm going to use the cream in the morning instead. I'm also not sure as to whether I should be washing my face? I feel like I should at the end of the day (instead of removing my make up with a sensitive baby wipe) and not wash it in the morning. Hopefully the 3 pimples subside a little tomorrow so I'm not tempted.
Your making a thread sbout skin picking,how come i am not teading how you changed your eating habits and ditched all the sugary processed stuff,dairy and how you eat brown bread instead of white.
how you are drinking 4 pints of water daily.washing with warm water only,patting dry with a fresh towel every time?
you will fund if you change inside you wont have to give a damn about fingers on face cos there will be nothing to pick.
start a new regime,after a week all the pimples should start clearing up.
and keep them fingers off your face!!!!
3 hours ago, Quadboy said:Your making a thread sbout skin picking,how come i am not teading how you changed your eating habits and ditched all the sugary processed stuff,dairy and how you eat brown bread instead of white.
how you are drinking 4 pints of water daily.washing with warm water only,patting dry with a fresh towel every time?
you will fund if you change inside you wont have to give a damn about fingers on face cos there will be nothing to pick.
start a new regime,after a week all the pimples should start clearing up.
and keep them fingers off your face!!!!
I guess I should have stated this earlier, but last summer I did a dairy-free, gluten-free, and no processed sugar diet, and nothing changed in my skin. I need to be drinking a little more water, however, I can assure you it's not my diet. Not everyone's acne is associated with their diet. My picking causes my acne. I will literally squeeze at sebaceous filaments at my skin, which will cause a small breakout. Then I pick at that, and bacteria spreads. As soon as I stop picking, my skin changes drastically. Thank you for the advice though
Update: My skin is looking a million times better already, I only have about 6 small pimples on my face right now (all at a head which is sooo tempting to pick!), but 4 of them are so tiny you have to look an inch or 2 away from the mirror to see. All those red marks from the pictures on Day 1 (the most recent day 1 lol) scabbed a little again, but they just kinda fell off/I peeled some half fallen off ones off. They're still a little red because they left some hyper pigmentation marks. Hopefully those go away relatively soon. I'm just posting right now because I'm super tempted to pop those little pimples that have come to head, but I stopped myself
1 minute ago, Quadboy said:Buy a fidget device?
pickers anonymous?
A fidget toy would not be a bad idea! I think I'm going to order a cheap one from amazon!
Day 3: By the end of today, it was sooo tempting to pick but I didn't. The hydroquinone serum came in, so I washed my face, waited 10 minutes, applied Retin-A, waited again, be then put on the hydroquinone serum. I'm hoping all the pimples that are at a head will be gone by Monday!
Day 4: (doing this a day late oops) I did well all day, but then after I washed my face I decided to pluck 2 little baby hairs that were on 2 different pimples to see if it made them shrink a little overnight. Right after they started to ooze though so I gently squeezed the white stuff out 
And then right after I gently squeezed at another pimple, but I stopped myself and left my face alone!
Day 5: My face looked totally fine when I woke up this morning! Didn't pick and it looked better today actually. I just took off my makeup and out on my Retin-A and hydroquinone, and it looks even better. The hyperpigmentation in general looks better and the hyperpigmentation from last Thursday looks much better!
Day 6: The right side of my face, my forehead, and chin are looking sooo much better!! I have an under the skin pimple near my eye, and for some unknown reason I tried to squeeze at it and of course it didn't pop. Nothing too bad, it'll get better but lesson learned. Where I had an under the skin pimple on my cheek and picked at (about a week and a half ago) left a painful lump... Weird, but it should flatten out over the next few weeks. I also popped one little pimple on my temple, and honestly the picking isn't as satisfying as it once was. My nice looking skin is so much more satisfying and tonight I really had no urge to pick at my face. I think I'm going to wait until Day 31 (or 30) to post my results!
Day 7: Ugh there was a scab on that pimple by my eye and it was still painful/I could tell there was a ton of puss in there so I peeled the scab off and it oozed out.The hyperpigmentation is looking better though! But starting tomorrow I really need to keep my hands away from that one pimple/any other pimples at a head. I've already improved so much and I know I can keep going!
Update: I am SO upset with myself/life in general. Totally messed up a test today (and I have a 90.0% in the class, but it's okay I have one last project and it'll bring my grade up!), got home and picked the scab off (which ended up being better actually? weird), and went back to the mirror and picked at my face. The pimple by my eye was really weird. I peeled the scab off, and all the puss came out in just a ball (gross, I know) almost like it was an infection and not a pimple? It's flattened out and is way better now so by Monday it should be completely gone. Because I picked my face isn't looking too good, but I think by Monday it should be completely clear. I'm on my period so I'm assuming that's why I'm so emotional today and cried 3 times lol. Generally when I'm really emotional I'll pick, so I need to steer clear of the mirror!
Day 8: Totally forgot to do this yesterday! Along with the update, I also squeezed some small whiteheads randomly around my face which left some red marks the next morning but so far they seem to be gone! I used Retin-A with no hydroquinone to give my skin a break.
Day 9: Didn't pick today! I'm going to wash my face and use both the Retin-A and the hydroquinone tonight. I did
peel off some flaky scabs/dead skin but that's about it.