I have always been a picker. I remember it from my earliest playground knee grazes—the irresistible urge to peel off the scab as soon as it formed; to see the bright white flesh beneath. I knew I wasn ...

Scabs get a bad reputation because they’re dry, crusty, and inconvenient, but they are one of the body’s most effective protection systems. From a biological standpoint, a scab is your skin’s ...

A fear of being alone triggered my new habit. It was almost the holidays, and another good friend — one of the few left unmarried — became engaged. Immediately, the fear I'd had since childhood of ...

Skin picking disorder, also called dermatillosia or excoriation disorder, is when you repeatedly pick at your skin to the point where it causes damage, scarring, or distress. It’s not just ...

I sat nervously in the exam room, staring at the floor as my mom sat nearby. At age ten, I’d never been to a dermatologist before, and I didn’t know what to expect. My pessimistic mind pictured a ...

One local non-profit is raising awareness for a little-known, often misdiagnosed, and life pervasive disorder. The “Picking Me Foundation” advocates for people struggling with compulsive skin-picking ...

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me is this is less of a ‘cosmetic’ surface-level skin issue and more of a mental health one. Lydia agrees, noting that “skin picking is one in a set of ...