im 20 and ive been eating my finger skin all my life.

I've bitten my nails and the skin around them since I was a little girl, and over the years it's gotten worse and worse. I now bite the inside of my mouth and cheeks too and have torn my feet so badly that it actually hurts to walk on them. Acrylic nails helped me with the nail biting but really it was a poor choice as I would still be unable to resist the compulsion to 'fix' the ragged skin around them and then when the nails got to long and i'd remove it it would often tear the nail further making the habit worse. nothing helps with my feet. nothing. i've tried wearing socks, ALL the time so i can't get to them to 'fix' it.. i apply moisturiser etc in an effort to make my feet heal so i don't feel the compulsion...but it never lasts. i seem to be prompted not only by a compulsion to make everything smooth but also as a way to calm myself when i get stressed out or anxious so even if there's nothing wrong with my finger doesn't mean i won't attack it when i get overly nervous. I never knew before tonight that this condition had a name, and I was so relieved to see that I wasn't alone in this. But now...realising that there isn't really any cure..there's no magic pill i can take that will fix the problem. Has anyone had any success in breaking the habit?

A picky eater turns to cookbook writing as a way to overcome a lifetime of bad eating habits. I like to visit this post once again thanks for sharing the information. Regards, Jack - kids bedtime

im 24 and i pick and eat my skin on my fingers and feet, and have done so all my life. my husband hates it and does not understand why i do it. its relaxing for me, i just hate having hangnails, scabs ect... i used to bit my nails too, but have stoped by using acrilic nails. my feet get realy bad, and sometimes it hurts to walk/stand on them. im not sure it this is some form of OCD, or just simply a bad habbit. nothing has worked, ive tried puting bandaids on all of me fingers, to applying no bite nail poplish to my skin, i just cant stop. any sudjestions? my son watches me do this and i dont want him to start doing it as well.

I'm 17 years old and I pick the skin on my fingers and bite my lips and the skin inside my mouth. I am so overwhelmed right now because there are so many others with this problem! I don't even really remember when it started. I only know that I once, for about 1 or 2 years, didn't pick and then "found it again" and never stopped ever since. Yesterday I tried not to pick for the first time which was pretty difficult due to the fact that it's exam time and stuff. But I tried anyway and failed miserably. It just happens. I pick when I'm not aware of it. At those moments I cought myself yesterday in the strangest situations. Like when I'm waiting in a car or waiting for the computer to load something. Like right now I want to pick my fingers >.< But I'm very happy to know this webside now. It lets me know that I'm not alone and that there are loads of people out there with the same thing. And i hope for all of us pickers that we will stop one day.

I'm a 20 year old female who just realized that my skin picking tendencies are a problem. My fingers hurt from all the damage I do to them often after biting my nails too short and stripping my cuticles. I also eat my toe nails. Even though I understand how repulsive and damaging my skin eating is, I cannot stop. This tendency is embarrassing to admit because I am a psychology major, but self-reflection and criticism is incredibly important to personal growth. From reading articles on obsessive behaviors, they say it is important to consciously attack the problem. It is often when you are not thinking about it that one will bite their nails out of nervousness. In order to solve the problem one has to face the problem head on and correct the behavior when you catch yourself. I find myself skin picking when I am nervous or brainstorming. Luckily I don't do it in public and never speak with fingers in my mouth. I am going to try the conscious method and consider putting band-aids on my fingers to prevent myself from being able to bite them. If this doesn't work I will have to speak with my parents about receiving professional help for my disturbing habit. This website and everyones stories are a true comfort. I am glad to know that I am not the only one in this struggle for normalcy.

I hate this habit I've been biting my nails,skin off my fingers and feet since i was 3 years old and now im about to be 17. Two years ago i got braces and supposedly it would help stop the biting, but i learned to bite with them on which only made it worse because every time i would go to bite it would do a double bite and go really deep, but i just cant stop and with my feel i compulsively clip the skin off the side of my big toe and heels of my feet to the point where it hurts, i've tried acrylic nails and I ever bite those off, I'm thinking of going to the doctor soon i've also noticed that i have become extremely addicted to the clicking sound the skin or nails would make between my teeth helps my stress, i have no control over this problem at all im so glad im not the only one who suffers :)

Hi I too am a psychology graduate and have become aware that what I am doing and have done since I was a child ( I'm 32 now) is somehow psychological. Most obviously today I had an argument with my husband and have spent all day ripping the skin from my fingers to the point I now can't sleep as my fingers are so sore. It often occurs when I'm preparing for exams or other stressful situations and my husband has to physically move my hands apart when we watch thrillers or scary movies! I feel like a fool but it is comforting to find out that I'm not alone and there is a name and potential cures for it. I also realized recently that both my brother and my cousin have the habit and alarm bells began to ring when I noticed my son beginning to bite too. It makes me feel sick to think of him having this awful stressful condition too. My only light relief has been when I have had a manicure or acrylic nails applied. It is too expensive to keep up with permanently but I rarely did it then firstly because I think they looked good but also I think it helped that the skin around the nails were regularly filed as it feels there is almost too much skin around the nails and that feeling prompts me to pick. I feel as if I need to pull the nail away from the skin. Also when you have regular nail treatments you put moisturizer into the surrounding skin. Which helps to dull the need to pick/ bite and does not taste too good if you do. Its almost like a throbbing sensation. That is somehow temporarily eased once you get that bit of skin off - before the pain sets in that is. I also form reading these posts realized that I have always bitten my mouth and lips since I was a child too. Especially in times of anxiety. I know recognize my obsession for Vaseline. I cannot go a couple of hours without applying the lip treatment to my lips as they feel sore dry without and I cannot stop myself from biting. Thank you for providing me with a place to say all this out loud as it were! I feel better knowing I'm not alone. It is such a worrying and embarrassing thing to admit to so it is nice to know people understand. Xx

Can you stop? will your skin grow back?I have been doing my fingers the same way and I really want to stop before it gets so badI have been doing this since the 2nd grade though I need to stop before it gets worse but the bad part I've been hiding this from everybody so no one could help me

Am really surprised i even found this forum because i thought i was the only one with this problem. i used to bite my nails and bite the skin under my nails when i was younger. i recently enrolled in an accountancy course and i noticed that i started biting the skin on my thumb until it becomes sore. this happens when am studying or concentrating on something. the skin has become so rough and now i have no idea how to make it smooth again. i have tried putting lotion and band aids but so far it hasnt helped. its so embarrassing. am so relieved to know that there are others out there like me:(

I just realize there were a symptom of this, used to bite skins on my thumb + skin on my hand (part between the finger and thumb) out that it bleed so much for 5 hour without stopping + also on my mddle finger i bit on the bones that it was almost to the bone, until i found a medicine lotion call "Herudriod" that help me stop biting because if i do the medicine said "If eat, will die".

I am 15, and I just recently started picking. I started about 3 months ago i believe. I have stress, but not a whole lot of it. I believe i have minor depression so every once in a while I will get really unhappy and it Souths me to bite the skin off my fingers. I usually just do it out of habit so i am biting them all day long. I find the feeling of chewing on the skin very unique in my mouth and enjoy it, but I know it's bad for me. Well I don't want to post this and not help somehow. I have found one thing that helps other then chewing gun. I play guitar a little bit, and calluses help. If the tip of your fingers becomes hard from playing the strings then you can't bite it, it becomes really smooth, and slides between your teeth unallowing you to bit, but I still haven't found a way to stop myself from biting the skin on the edges of my fingertips.

Effecten van stoppen met roken De effecten van stoppen met roken zijn voor veel mensen vervelend: prikkelbaarheid, nervositeit, slapeloosheid en transpiratie. Gelukkig heeft Prostop Therapie een unieke methode ontwikkeld waarmee u zonder deze negatieve effecten kunt stoppen met roken. Het geheim? Een speciaal ontwikkelde lasertherapie zodat uw lichaam snel geen behoefte aan nicotine meer heeft.

"OMG! i though i was the only one with this bad habit! im 14 years old from new york and i think ive started bittin my nail skin since i was about 10 or 12 years old. It was very interesting reading eveyones comments and i compared a lot to my habit. it made me feel better now that i know there are other people like me out there with the same habit and some even my age. Also, others older than me that had this for a real long time.. im surprised and i just found out theres people that pick there hair also! okay, let me tell you about my bad habit. i though it was a nervous problem but whenever i am nervous, stressed out or studying hard i start biting my nail skin. sometimes i dont even notice im biting it just happens and its ruining my fingers =[ when i think to much i bite and double bite real deep. sometimes i go in to deep that i start bleeding and my fingers hurt to blend or when i use hand sanitianzer it burns ! :o im scared that this bad habit won't go away. i remember how it started. i was going thur a lot that year then idk how but out of no where i started off with bitting off the skin of my nuckles. soon, it was became a bad habit, i bite too much that my knuckles were sometimes pink! i always tried to hide my hand away from everyone. it was an embrassment. well, happily that habit went away but my nuckles are somehow still alittle pink and it looks ugly for me ! while that habit went away i went to biting the side of my poining finger then my other finger in the left hand well, all fingers. (the sides and back of the finger). i hate this habit. i tried acholic, it burns but it just won't go away and ive even said i'll stop but somehow i just can't keep those words. im disappointed, i really need to stop. i feel werid to let anyone see my hands and i try but still i get caught sometimes. when i do, i make a lame excuse and walk away or say i got hurt. uhm, i also bite in between my pointing finger and my thumb for both hands. left and right. i have a bad habit and both my parents hate it. they try to help me but it doesnt work. their going to take me to a skin doctor to see if they can help and hopefully they could help me. Im just feeling so normal now that there are others like me and im happy i found this page, to let all ive been hiding out of me and sharing it with others.i also have a bad habit of picking my skin on my humerus. i hate these habits i have and good luck for everyone. God bless you and i'll pray. One day all our bad habits will go away." [= P.S. if there are any ways you know how to make yourself stop from biting please contact me or if you have any questions. Feel free to ask.

I'm 15 and have been picking and eating the skin on my fingers, on the sides of my toes, and at the bottom of my heel for a while now. Im scared to wear flip flops because I'm afraid someone will see my feet because they look terrible. I dont know why i do it but i need to stop because I'm at the point where I have to hide my hands and feet so carefully that no one will see it and ask what happend and stuff. No one in my family even knows about my addiction.

Hi everyone. I am 21 years old and have had this horrible habit of biting my cuticles and the skin around my fingernails for as long as I can remember. It is very embarassing, for the fact that around my finger nails are all red and swollen all the time! It's even more embarassing when I go out with my friends to a beach or someone pool because once I go in for to long and become pruney you can see where I bit my nails. I dont know why I have had this problem, and my mother used to tell me when I was younger to stop or I would get an infection in my fingers and they would have to cut them off, but that didnt stop me either. Its also embarassing when I go to get my nails done or someone askes to see my nails, or when someone askes to see my rings. If your young and just started Im telling you to stop while you can. It becomes such an addiction that half the time I dont even realise Im doing it. I will do it all the time while driving, working, laying in bed, in the shower and everywhere. I would really like to find a cure to this and find out why I do it so I can stop and get my hands looking somewhat lady like again. My boyfriend hates when I do this, but I dont think he understands the fact from me doing it so much for so long its become an addiction and a habit. : / I'll be even more embarassed when I get married and we have to take pictures of our hands for the rings -_- . please someone help me!!! * i also have a 4 year old son, almost 5. and i do it so much that i got him into the habit of biting his nails. He sees mommy do it and he wants to. so someone please help me better myself and my son

O wow!!! I can not believe these many people are dealing with this. This is just insane! I've been dealing with this issue for a while now. I started when I was like 12 and now at 21 I can't seem to stop. I've tried quitting as sad as that sounds countless times but it never lasts. My hands are always dry, rough and just not pleasing. It always hurts when people ask" What's wrong with your hands" and I have nothing to say because none of them would understand. The only thing that copes for me not biting on my fingers and hands is gum. But I can't have gum every second of the day. Usually if my mouth and hands are kept busy I do well. But again that won't always be the case. But as a group I think we all need to make efforts to stopping the embarrassment and the pain by sharing our methods to quitting. I think we can do it guys :)