Onychophagia--bad habit or real problem?

[rushrulz]

I've noticed that some people (on the web) are comparing compulsive nail biting (the extreme form of it) with skin picking, hair pulling, and OCD.

I wonder how you'd define it, though? When is it a real problem?

Health books say that it's only a problem if done to the point of bleeding. Well, is that still true if you didn't intend for it to bleed, if you didn't want to go quite that far? I mean, that hurts, and that's no fun.

Needless to say, my nails aren't anything to look at. They're total disasters of malformity and infection, actually. I have no desire to quit, but am just curious about exactly how messed up this is.

[Marti]

I had a client who was a compulsive nail biter - so much so that she had absolutely NO nails left. she would bite at the surface of the nail plate and entire plate consisted of only a portion that was about 1/8th of an inch in length and the rest was hardened skin.

Nail biting is a compulsive habit and VERY hard to break when it gets to the point where the nail plate is completely destroyed. The plate is there to protect the delicate underlying tissues, nerves and blood supply. Somecompulsive persons have experienced improvement in the behavior with the use of anti-depressants or other 'mood altering' drugs. Seek the sadvice of a dermatologist/physician to help you break your compulsive habit.

Mild forms of onychopaghy can be helped with simple behavior monitoring by the nail biter - compulsive biters may need to seek medical intervention.

[S_T]

I pick at the skin around my fingers all the time. I used to on my toes but that stopped after I, somehow, managed to put my concentration into my fingers. I started off with my lips in Gr. 4 and in Gr. 6, moved to my fingers. It's mostly my thumb that is the worst. I almost feel like it's a perfectionistic thing, i just can't leave an uneven skin there, I have to pick it to make the skin more uniform (even though this obviously makes things worse). How do we stop this? It's an embarrasing problem. I have to hide my thumbs/fingers from others.

[Marti]

Nail biters are on a quest for order, and scheduling regular manicure appointments will help you acheive that order. Biting only contributes to more ragged edges of nail plate and skin, which leads to even more biting, which leads to even more ragged skin/nails. If the nails/skin are properly taken care of, there will be no ragged edges at which to bite.

Book TWO manicure appointments per week for 2 weeks, then one weekly for 2 months. After that time, you shouldn't have anything left at which to bite, and your nails will be 'happier' for it