Advice Please with Daughter Picking

does she have dry skin?
It might be something you can look into and try to put some lotions on her skin to see if that helps.
If not she might be self harming if shes picking and giving herself marks on that note I would contact a child psychologist and have them maybe observe her.
I would also try to get it on video so if you do decide to take her to a doctor if she doesnt do it for them then you have proof that she is indeed harming herself.

It sounds like a type of "tic". If your doctor just passes this off, I'd try another doctor. You might ask for an evaluation by an OT. It could be partly a sensory integration problem. OT would help with that.

File down her nails often. Give her a "squishy toy" to squish. Tell her that this is her "busy fingers" toy and that she needs to squish it instead of picking at her skin. Redirect her all the time until she gets to using the squishy toy.

I hope this works. My niece picked at her face, and her mother put bandaids all over her face to prevent scars. She couldn't pick through the bandaids.

Dawn

Cocoa butter, shea butter, aloe vera gel are all good for scars and are natural too.

I've never heard or known anyone that has a toddler that picks.

It sounds like an anxiety situation and a way that she self soothes, albeit, a very odd and potentially dangerous way.

She's 3, old enough to talk to you, have you asked her why? Is there some stress in your household that might be affecting her without you really realizing it? I'd definitely talk more about it to the pediatrician, let him/her know how concerned you are about this, it doesnt seem normal to me.

In the interim, I would continue to remove her hands from her face and give her something else to handle with her hands to keep them busy. Keep her face moisturized with something a little bit greasy like aquaphor, it might prohibit the picking. And again, encourage her to talk to you about why she's doing it.

She probably won't get scars from it.

I'm a picker/biter, and compulsive habits like this are hard to stop. I think your pediatrician's advice is good, also try subtly redirecting her when she does it. Maybe you can find some other habit/activity to take it's place, like rubbing on a lovely or something.

Good luck. After years of picking/biting -- no scars, just short nails. :)

I would try all the advice here, filing her nails daily and putting vaseline on her fingers frequently, try the squishy ball -get several, have her wear socks on her hands at bedtime and video her for the Dr. My yoga studio has a class for small children they make it fun with animals poses, maybe ta yoga studio could give her calming techniques.

Stress?
Maybe this is a coping mechanism for her.
Or it soothes her.

When I was in second grade, I remember I had a scab on my head that could never heal because I picked at it whenever I was bored or when I just felt like I needed to do something with my hands. Because I couldn't see it, I thought it needed picking just by the way it felt. And I liked the way peeling the scab off felt anyway. My teacher at first just told me not to do it and told my parents about it at P/T conference. I didn't care. What got me to stop was my teacher calmly and matter of factly talking scabs with me. How some can be picked off but most need to heal without poking or picking, especially by dirty hands that could infect them. She talked about dirt under fingernails. It was all very nonjudgemental. She talked to me like I was on her level so my defiance melted away and I stopped to consider it logically, as well as think about how she cared about my well being. She gave me other things to do with my hands when I felt like they needed to be moving. Many years later I discovered that I have OCD. Sometimes it doesn't affect me at all, but other times in my life it really interferes. In general, I just have to keep my hands busy with good things when I'm listening or thinking.