Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWays to StopWhat to Do Instead of Picking Your NailsNail Picking and Mental HealthOnychotillomania TreatmentNail Care
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Ways to Stop
What to Do Instead of Picking Your Nails
Nail Picking and Mental Health
Onychotillomania Treatment
Nail Care
Nail picking, also known as onychotillomania, is the urge to pull at orpick the nails and surrounding skin. The condition is similar to the more commonly knownonychophagia, which is when someone bites their nails and skin. Nail picking is often related to an underlying mental health condition.
Treatment involves identifying triggers, therapy, and treating the underlying mental health condition.
This article covers how to stop picking your nails, treatment options, and nail care.
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How to Stop Picking Cuticles, Nails, and Surrounding Skin
Learning to stop picking cuticles, nails, and the surrounding skin can be difficult. It is often thought of as adermatologicalconcern when it is both that and a mental health concern.Below are ways that can help someone stop picking their nails.
Identify Triggers
Identifying what triggers someone to pick their nails, cuticles, or surrounding skin can help resolve the issue. Some triggers will be external sources, such as an activity or environmental concern that causes the desire to pick. Othertriggersare internal, a thought, feeling, orsensorychange that creates the need to pick.
Determining the triggers can help create awareness and teach the person to avoid those situations or learn to identify what is happening to begin the process of stopping. Some people may find it helpful to write in a journal or keep notes to determine what is leading up to the nail picking.
Cover With Band-Aids
An occlusive cover like a Band-Aid orother adhesive dressingwill provide a physical barrier and a reminder to stop picking.Some people may not like the appearance of wearingBand-Aidsover their fingers, so try clear adhesive bandages found at pharmacies.
Apply Super Glue
Cyanoacrylate adhesive, also known as Super Glue, is applied one or two times per week over the nails, cuticles, and skin to provide a temporary barrier. It acts as a reminder not to pick. One case report found cyanoacrylate adhesive applications stopped picking within three to six months.
Join a Support Group
Learning to stop picking your nails, cuticles, and surrounding skin is a process that does not happen overnight. Joining asupport groupwith other people who pick or have similar habits can offer a reassuring environment where advice and previous experiences can be shared. Healthcare providers andsocial workerscan help find support groups.
During the process of learning how to stop picking your nails, it can be helpful to findreplacement behaviors.
A replacement behavior is something that is done in place of picking. It can be squeezing astress ball, sitting on your hands, or making a fist.
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Addressing Nail Picking and Mental Health
Nail picking is a condition that is both a skin and mental health concern.
The picking creates skin and nail destruction, which generally arises from a mental health condition. Nail picking is not classified as its mental health diagnosis in the guide that health providers use, theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition(DSM-5), but is placed under the body-focused repetitive behavior disorders (BFRB) in the subsection of “Other Specified Obsessive-Compulsive-Related Disorders.”
It is often associated with other mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, andpsychosis. It can also be associated with dissociation. This occurs when the person has little to no memory of picking their nails and skin.
Nail Picking and InfectionInfection is one of the risks when someone picks their nails or skin. The skin and nails form a barrier between the outside world and the inside of the body. When that is compromised with picking, an infection can develop.Toavoid an infection, clean any picked areas and try not to touch them. If you develop signs of an infection, contact a healthcare provider to determine the best course of treatment.
Nail Picking and Infection
Infection is one of the risks when someone picks their nails or skin. The skin and nails form a barrier between the outside world and the inside of the body. When that is compromised with picking, an infection can develop.Toavoid an infection, clean any picked areas and try not to touch them. If you develop signs of an infection, contact a healthcare provider to determine the best course of treatment.
Infection is one of the risks when someone picks their nails or skin. The skin and nails form a barrier between the outside world and the inside of the body. When that is compromised with picking, an infection can develop.
Toavoid an infection, clean any picked areas and try not to touch them. If you develop signs of an infection, contact a healthcare provider to determine the best course of treatment.
Treating nail picking is done through therapy and in some cases medication. Below is an overview of the two treatments.
Medication
There is limited research on treating nail picking with medications. Research does support the use of medications for nail biting.
Medications that have successfully treated nail picking include:
For some people, treating an underlying mental health condition can improve nail-picking symptoms as well.
Therapies
In addition to medication, behavior modification likecognitive behavioral therapy(CBT) can treat nail picking. CBT increases a person’s awareness of nail picking.
Another therapy is habit reversal training (HRT). HRT uses three elements to provide treatment, as follows:
Nail Care to Discourage Picking
Taking care of thenailsand surrounding skin may help to discourage someone from picking. Nail care measures include keeping the nails and cuticles short and clean or getting amanicure. Keeping thenails and surrounding skin clean and healthymay decrease the urge to pick.
Summary
Onychotillomania, or the urge to pick at the nails and surrounding skin, is a behavior of an underlying mental health condition. There are several treatment options such as therapy, trigger identification, and medication. Contact a healthcare provider for an evaluation and treatment for nail picking.
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Lee DK, Lipner SR.Update on diagnosis and management of onychophagia and onychotillomania.IJERPH. 2022;19(6):3392. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063392The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.Evidence-based therapeutic treatments for BFRB.DermNet.Habit-tic deformity.Aljhani S.Fluoxetine for the treatment of onychotillomania associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder: a case report.J Med Case Reports. 2022;16(1):431. doi:10.1186/s13256-022-03652-9Lee DK, Lipner SR.The potential of n-acetylcysteine for treatment of trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, onychophagia, and onychotillomania: an updated literature review.IJERPH. 2022;19(11):6370. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116370
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Lee DK, Lipner SR.Update on diagnosis and management of onychophagia and onychotillomania.IJERPH. 2022;19(6):3392. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063392The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.Evidence-based therapeutic treatments for BFRB.DermNet.Habit-tic deformity.Aljhani S.Fluoxetine for the treatment of onychotillomania associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder: a case report.J Med Case Reports. 2022;16(1):431. doi:10.1186/s13256-022-03652-9Lee DK, Lipner SR.The potential of n-acetylcysteine for treatment of trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, onychophagia, and onychotillomania: an updated literature review.IJERPH. 2022;19(11):6370. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116370
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Lee DK, Lipner SR.Update on diagnosis and management of onychophagia and onychotillomania.IJERPH. 2022;19(6):3392. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063392The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.Evidence-based therapeutic treatments for BFRB.DermNet.Habit-tic deformity.Aljhani S.Fluoxetine for the treatment of onychotillomania associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder: a case report.J Med Case Reports. 2022;16(1):431. doi:10.1186/s13256-022-03652-9Lee DK, Lipner SR.The potential of n-acetylcysteine for treatment of trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, onychophagia, and onychotillomania: an updated literature review.IJERPH. 2022;19(11):6370. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116370
Lee DK, Lipner SR.Update on diagnosis and management of onychophagia and onychotillomania.IJERPH. 2022;19(6):3392. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063392
The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.Evidence-based therapeutic treatments for BFRB.
DermNet.Habit-tic deformity.
Aljhani S.Fluoxetine for the treatment of onychotillomania associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder: a case report.J Med Case Reports. 2022;16(1):431. doi:10.1186/s13256-022-03652-9
Lee DK, Lipner SR.The potential of n-acetylcysteine for treatment of trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, onychophagia, and onychotillomania: an updated literature review.IJERPH. 2022;19(11):6370. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116370
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