Nail-biting - WatsonsHealth

NAILBITING

Overview & facts

Many people bite nails every now and then, but when you’re compulsively biting and eating the skin of your hands and fingers, you could have dermatophagia.

Dermatophagia is an abnormal compulsion to bite skin and nails, leaving it bloody, broken, and, in some circumstances, infected. The compulsion most often affects the palms, cuticles,and fingers. However, it may also arise in different parts of the body.

Other forms of compulsion are the following:

  • Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder)
  • Excoriation (skin-picking disorder)
  • Onychophagia (nail-biting disorder)
  • Chronic tongue chewing
  • Trichophagia (hair eating)
  • Chronic lip biting

Types & Symptoms

Symptoms

You are nail-biting abnormally if you:

  • Gnaw and eat your nails and the surrounding skin
  • Have red and raw skin in the nails
  • Have bleeding within the nails
  • Have nail damage, broken nails, scarring, calluses, or discolorations
  • Are distressed by how this habit interferes with your daily activities.

Diagnosis & Medications

Diagnosis

If you have the above-mentioned symptoms, speak to a mental health professional. They are going to ask you questions about your symptoms, mood, and medical history.

Nail biting is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Rather, they fall below “other specified obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.” To classify, nail-biting should cause damage or distress and should affect your daily activities on a regular basis.

Medications/Treatment

When the behavior is already out of your control, you can seek out remedies:

Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can treat nail-biting. This style of treatment specializes in thoughts and behaviors and works towards adjusting behavioral responses to these ideas.

Habit reversal training can also be used. HRT involves awareness coaching, response training, and social help.

 

Medications

There are no approved medications for nail-biting, but some medications may just help:

  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as escitalopram, fluoxetine, sertraline and paroxetine
  • Clomipramine

 

 

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