Do you often find yourself biting the skin around your nails? Do you find that when you’re in an anxiety inducing situation that the inside of your mouth is being bitten? Do you just bite the skin and nails for fun? There is a term for what is happening and it’s called Dermatophagia. Some people bite their nails just as a bad habit, or because they have a hangnail. Unfortunately, there is a point when that “bad habit” becomes a dangerous problem. When there is constant chewing going on around the nails, that biter needs to stop because it can be linked to mental disorders, and it is unhealthy for the biter.
Many people don’t know that there is a disorder called Dermatophagia and as a disease, it rips apart people’s lives. When there …show more content…
As the biter bites into their own skin, they may or may not be conscious of what they are doing. “Others claimed it as a kind of self mutilation which may or may not be serious.” (eHealth wall 3) Unfortunately, the biter knows that Dermatophagia is a form of self mutilation. When the biting is more frequent the skin can, and will eventually bleed. With the bleeding, there will be cuts from where their teeth came into contact with the skin. The cuts that are open and bleeding can in serious cases, become infected which is bad for the biter. Self mutilation, as most know is inadequate, not only because it harms the victim, such as scars, cuts and infection, but the biter can become mentally unstable. Biting the skin may become an addiction to them. Not only are addiction and self mutilation, possible complications but so are shame, and chronic depression. Shame can come in many forms, such as embarrassment, and hatred of the body. Now the hatred of the body can lead to withdrawal for the outside world, because the biter would be ashamed of the way their fingers look. As there is withdrawal from the outside world, the person may become increasingly depressed. All these symptoms can be linked in an endless cycle of mental disorders, that can have increasingly bad effect on a single
Many people don’t know that there is a disorder called Dermatophagia and as a disease, it rips apart people’s lives. When there …show more content…
As the biter bites into their own skin, they may or may not be conscious of what they are doing. “Others claimed it as a kind of self mutilation which may or may not be serious.” (eHealth wall 3) Unfortunately, the biter knows that Dermatophagia is a form of self mutilation. When the biting is more frequent the skin can, and will eventually bleed. With the bleeding, there will be cuts from where their teeth came into contact with the skin. The cuts that are open and bleeding can in serious cases, become infected which is bad for the biter. Self mutilation, as most know is inadequate, not only because it harms the victim, such as scars, cuts and infection, but the biter can become mentally unstable. Biting the skin may become an addiction to them. Not only are addiction and self mutilation, possible complications but so are shame, and chronic depression. Shame can come in many forms, such as embarrassment, and hatred of the body. Now the hatred of the body can lead to withdrawal for the outside world, because the biter would be ashamed of the way their fingers look. As there is withdrawal from the outside world, the person may become increasingly depressed. All these symptoms can be linked in an endless cycle of mental disorders, that can have increasingly bad effect on a single