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OCD. Dermatophagia (from Ancient Greek δέρμα — lit.skin and φαγείαlit.eating) or dermatodaxia (from δήξις, lit.biting) [3] is a compulsion disorder of gnawing or biting one's own skin, most commonly at the fingers. This action can either be conscious or unconscious [4] and it is considered to be a type of pica.
Nail biting, also known as onychophagy or onychophagia, is an oral compulsive habit of biting one's fingernails. It is sometimes described as a parafunctional activity, the common use of the mouth for an activity other than speaking, eating, or drinking. Nail biting is very common, especially amongst children. 25–35 percent of children bite ...
Erythromelalgia or Mitchell's disease (after Silas Weir Mitchell) is a rare vascular peripheral pain disorder in which blood vessels, usually in the lower extremities or hands, are episodically blocked (frequently on and off daily), then become hyperemic and inflamed. There is severe burning pain (in the small fiber sensory nerves) and skin ...
The problem doesn't stop at nails, either. Habitual nail-biters often chomp on the skin around their fingers, too, leaving open cuts and abrasions that could easily pick up even more bacteria or ...
Pica is the eating or craving of things that are not food. [2] It is classified as an eating disorder but can also be the result of an existing mental disorder. [3] The ingested or craved substance may be biological, natural or manmade. The term was drawn directly from the medieval Latin word for magpie, a bird subject to much folklore ...
Hormones and certain medications can also make pigmented bands in the nails, but be especially watchful for nail cancer symptoms, such as a brown or dark stripe that goes from the cuticle out to ...
Fingernail-biting that develops into fingernail-eating is a form of pica. Other forms of pica include dermatophagia, and compulsion of eating one's own hair, which can form a hairball in the stomach. Left untreated, this can cause death due to excessive hair buildup. Self-cannibalism can be a form of self-harm and a symptom of a mental disorder.
Paronychia is an inflammation of the skin around the nail, which can occur suddenly, when it is usually due to the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, or gradually when it is commonly caused by the fungus Candida albicans. [2] [3] [4] The term is from Greek: παρωνυχία from para 'around', onyx 'nail', and the abstract noun suffix -ia.