picking at scabs - help!

my 6 yo wont stop picking her scabs! Scabs from 2 months ago that havent fully healed because she keeps reopening them. she's not giving her self the original cut, its all from bug bites

When i ask her why she does it, she said she doesn't know. I talk to her about scarring, infection, etc, but nothing seems to work.

i cannot tell you how many bandaids i've gone through!

any tips on how to get her to stop???

Message edited 10/17/2016 3:52:43 PM.

Re: picking at scabs - help!

I think that when it's a bug bite, it's really difficult. At first it itches, then even when you aren't thinking about you will reach for that spot again. My only real suggestion is to keep her nails very short.

picking at scabs - help!

They itch and it's fascinating.

I was a picker. I used to try to see if I could get the whole thing off in one piece. So was my kiddo and she has eczema (tho its finally getting better). Human skin is pretty damned amazing then you think about it. Infection isn't a fear to a kid who knows there's ointments and Band-Aids. Plus as a tomboy I constantly got scratches and cuts. I mean it was part of being a kid. And scars? What scars? Scars are AWESOME! Even now in our Girl Scout troop - the girls sit and freaking COMPARE scars! Totally not going to deter a bunch of girls! I think we need to stop stigmatizing the picking of it with fear of infection and scaring and just be honest that it is going against the body's natural defense. A scar is a shield to protect the body while it heals. For some reason THAT always seems to make those scab seem more important. Sounds stupid but I showed mine the science behind a scar.. how layers of skin work and how the cells rush to defend and close up a wound, clog up and create a scab. She thought it was awesome and now things scabs are awesome and tries to protect them and gets sad when she loses them. LOL

But the bottom line is the unintentional and even unknowing scratching. I mean honestly some of us do it even as adults accidently because they itch!!!

Our treatment includes keeping the scab soft. Non perfume lotions like CerVe kept them from itching. The edges especially. But yeah Band-Aids were the easy go-to as far as covering them up while she was in school or away from me to offer up lotion. Problem for us was we have to use fabric Band-Aids as plastic tears her skin and causes more itching/tearing/scabbing. *sigh*

Just my two cents. Good Luck!