[~Misguided Ghosts~]

I do the same exact thing to my feet when they start to have dead skin like that. It does hurt! It doesn't seem like you were doing it as a way to cope/punish yourself/distract yourself/etc. It might be part of the dermatillomania since you continued to peel it even after it started to hurt you instead of stopping when it got worse. When I peel normally I just leave it alone and end up limping, but maybe a cushiony band-aid can help. When I've been hospitalized, I've had problems with my feet cracking open on the bottom and even bleeding a little bit when it happens due to the concrete floors, which also hurts quite a bit. I've been given a larger sized cushiony band-aid to put on that part of my foot so it doesn't hurt as much when I walk. Band-AID brand band-aids seem to have a specific cushion care type. It's not exactly what I was thinking of but it may work the same.