Many people bite their nails or occasionally find themselves chewing on a hangnail, but if you find yourself compulsively biting and eating the skin on your hands and fingers, you may have dermatophagia.
Dermatophagia is what’s known as a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB). It goes beyond just nail biting or occasionally chewing on a finger. It’s not a habit or a tic, but rather a disorder
People with this condition gnaw at and eat their skin, leaving it bloody, damaged, and, in some cases, infected. The compulsion most frequently affects the hands, such as the cuticles and fingers. However, it may also occur on other parts of the body, too.
Other BFRBs include:
Keep reading to find out what you need to know about dermatophagia, what causes it, and how to treat it.
- trigonometrical (hair-pulling disorder)
- excoriation (skin-picking disorder)
- onychophagia (nail-biting disorder)
- chronic tongue chewing
- sarcophagi (hair eating)
- chronic lip biting
