There's a spectrum of nail biting. It can range from an occasional benign behavior to a deeply ingrained self-mutilative behavior. Many people who begin biting their nails as children eventually outgrow the habit. For others, it becomes a lifelong habit that can be extremely difficult to quit.
Once you've managed to stop biting your nails, one of the questions often asked is whether bitten nails can grow back to normal. The bad news is that although fairly uncommon, nail biting can lead to permanently damaged nails. You can cause permanent damage to your nails by biting them over a long period of time.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, categorizes chronic nail biting as other specified obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), classified in the same group as compulsive lip biting, nose picking, and hair pulling (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Scientists, in fact, are still trying to figure out exactly why people bite their nails. But they do know that it's a habit for a lot of us: about 20 to 30 percent of the population are nail biters, including up to 45 percent of teenagers.
There can also be physical manifestations of the anxiety caused by ADHD such as headache, nausea, nail-biting or cuticle-picking.
For most people, nail biting is automatic: You do it without thinking about it. While it can occur without any underlying psychiatric conditions, it's also associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), separation anxiety, tic disorder, and other mental health problems.
In fact, you may have heard how it takes 21 days to break a habit. This figure was popularized by a 1960s book called “The New Psycho Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz.
While most people assume nail biting has to do with nerves or anxiety, one study is linking this bad habit to a surprising personality trait. According to a study published in the March 2015 issue of Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, nail biters are more likely to be perfectionists.
It's a behavior often associated with stress or anxiety, but it's likely more complicated than that. For instance, one theory is that it helps some people regulate their emotions — or it feels like it does anyways.
Apply a medium size ball of acrylic (or gel) so that it covers half of the existing nail bed and flows out onto the skin where the free edge should be. Place product far enough so that you will be able to get a form under it just as you would do if starting a new full set on normal non-bitten nails.
Pharmacotherapy: In some cases, doctors may recommend the use of certain medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), to help with nail biting. However, doctors must make such prescriptions carefully, as SSRIs can worsen impulse-related conditions.
Additionally, if you swallow the nails, they can do damage to the epithelial lining of your esophagus and stomach. They will not digest, so if they're sharp, they will make their way through your entire body potentially scratching up your digestive tract.
Nail-biting (onychophagia) is a common stress-relieving habit. You may bite your nails in times of stress or excitement, or in times of boredom or inactivity. It can also be a learned behavior from family members.
"From chronic nail biting, you can damage the nail matrix (the tissue under the actual nail) and can have permanent nail deformities like ridges," explains Dr. Jaliman.
A: Doctors classify chronic nail biting as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder since the person has difficulty stopping. People often want to stop and make multiple attempts to quit without success. People with onychophagia cannot stop the behavior on their own, so it's not effective to tell a loved one to stop.
Nail biters are more often male than female after age 10 (10% fewer bite their nails than boys), and individuals with a higher rate of intelligence tend to bite their nails more than those of less intelligence.
Similarly, biting your nails might increase the rate of nail growth. While it's not clear exactly how this occurs, researchers theorize that the physical manipulation of a nail through biting stimulates the growth plate of each finger to be more metabolically active, leading to speedier nail formation.
Several studies indicate that there is a genetic component to nail biting (also known as onychophagia). One study has shown that 36.8% of nail biters had at least one family member with this habit. Studies of twins have shown that identical twins are more likely to both be nail-biters than non-identical twins.
Regularly biting your nails can cause your teeth to shift out of place, which can require correctional braces or a retainer. Nail biting could also cause your teeth to break or could damage your tooth enamel. The germs could also potentially infect, or cause irritation, to your gums.
Nail biting is very common, especially amongst children. 25–30 percent of children bite nails. More pathological forms of nails biting are considered an impulse control disorder in the DSM-IV-R and are classified under obsessive-compulsive and related disorders in the DSM-5.
Putting nail polish on your nails may help to discourage you from nibbling on them since a vibrant color can catch your attention and snap you out of your nail-biting habit. You'll also have more motivation to avoid biting your nails since you won't want to ruin the nice appearance.