The Urge to Pick the Skin

Posted on June 14, 2010 in Body Language OCD

The urge to pick the skin off my fingers overwhelmed me a couple of weeks ago. The two spots I prefer had lost their scars, but these are back now. I had gnawed through the skin to the muscle on the left index finger ((This has nothing to do with the numbness in that hand)) after I had my tooth pulled and renewed the blemish on my right index finger while chewing on the corners of my mouth.

I believe it was the pain following my oral surgery that compelled me to chew and pick. Then I kept at it because it relieved some of the anxiety.

Now I am resisting picking the fingers once more though the skin is getting dry around the vacancies that once were the sores. These are so subtle that only I notice them: only when I write about them are they magnified so as to betray a pathology.