What is nail eating disease? What are the symptoms and treatment methods?

Nail eating disease, which is frequently seen in adults and children, is defined as onicophagia in the medical language. Nail eating disease is among impulse control disorders. This action usually takes place when the person is under stress and pressure, usually after the age of 3-4. Eating nails in children with angry personality can also start when the teeth begin to grow. Nail eating disease, which is seen in one of every three children, may last until early adolescence or it may start during adolescence. Studies show that the nail-eating habit is seen in 40% of the total adolescent population during adolescence. The reason why nail eating disease, which started mostly due to anxiety, anxiety, fear and anger, increased during adolescence, can be shown as their lack of approval from the environment. However, in some children, nailing may also begin with the imitation of parents altogether. The children of the mothers and fathers who have nails start to eat nails by imitating them. In some cases, it can also be seen as eating nails, breaking nails, eating the skin around the nails, eating toenails or plucking toenails. All this can be seen due to the suppression of feelings of distress, tension or aggression. The disease is more common in children who are under the influence of the oppressive mother, father or teacher, or who seek the crime in themselves, who live in anger. Before we go into details about the causes of nail eating, which is thought to be mainly related to psychological problems, it is necessary to understand what nail sickness is.

What is nail eating disease?
Eating nails can be defined as a type of behavioral disorder or impulse control disorder that usually starts from the age of 3-4, eating the skin around the fingernails, tearing the fingernails and toes, gnawing and toenails. Rarely, this condition, which can start after 5 months of age in infancy, is due to the child's coming out of the safe environment offered by his parents and encountering a new social and physical environment. In other words, when the child is sent to the nursery for the first time or left to the caregiver, he / she may start to eat nails to feel safe or relax. This behavior, which started in childhood, can end with adolescence's social approval, and may continue in adulthood. Even though nail nail is seen as an important problem, this is actually a behavior that a person does to cope with the feelings and thoughts he feels in the face of events. Nail eating disease, which is defined as onychophagia in the language of medicine, can also be defined as a habit in which a person cannot control his impulse about eating nails. Although eating nails often starts as a result of psychological traumas, the children of mothers or fathers who eat their nails can start eating their nails only by imitating their parents. Other reasons behind the nail-eating habit include perfectionist personality, impatience, frustration and stress. Nail eating habit, which can start in response to such situations, later turns into an unconscious behavior. While the habit of nail eating is about 33% in children and 40% in adolescents, it is much more common among adults. Nail eating habit, which is defined as repetitive behaviors without social function, is continued due to its anxiety-reducing effect.
Nail eating disease in children
Nail eating disease in adults largely begins in childhood. In some people, this habit may evolve into habits such as eating lips, curling hair, sniffing noses, and pencil-picking. In children, onychophagia can occur for many different reasons. The frequent warning of the family not to eat nails may increase this behavior rather than quit it. This situation may even cause the child to hide his fingers and nails by making his hands in the form of a fist while he is with others. Over time, the child begins to avoid actions that should use his hands in the foreground. You may be afraid to swim in the pool and the sea. Therefore, the behaviors such as punishment, kidding, embarrassment, criticism and threatening by the family lead to an increase in factors such as stress, helplessness, anxiety and disappointment that cause the child to start to nail. Therefore, it is extremely important for the family to ignore this situation and try to discourage this habit by directing the child to the activities that the child should use his hand, especially during the initial period of nail eating disease. If the nail eating has become a habit, it should be investigated why the child is dissatisfied and it is extremely important to eliminate the underlying cause. The child should be kept away from stress, fear, anxiety and anxiety. Actions such as rebuke, humiliation, criticism and punishment should be avoided. Instead of this, the child should be encouraged that this is a habit and that he can leave it if he wishes.
What are the causes of nail eating disease?
Although nail eating is seen as a kind of insecurity among the people, the reasons for nail eating are in a wide range. Although the main cause of nail eating habit, which is thought to start as a response to the change in the emotional state of the person, is not known for certain, the studies focused on the following reasons:
Infancy Period: The nail eating habit that starts after the 5th month of infancy can mostly begin with finger sucking.
Learned Behavior: Children who eat their mothers and fathers can eat their nails by imitating this behavior of the parent.
Genetic Factor: Sudden changes in emotional state, anxiety disorders, and nail-eating disease associated with anxiety may be linked to the genetic transmission of such ailments.
Psychological Causes: Feelings of the person, such as tension, anxiety, sadness, fear, anger and distress, can cause nail eating disease. Sudden change in the social and physical environment of the person can make the person feel insecure. The person may be able to cope with this situation by eating nails. The fact that the family is authoritarian and oppressive, the child's anxiety about being criticized and punished, feeling worthless in the family, childhood that lacks interest and love, communication problems can also lead to the habit of eating nails. Mental retardation, developmental disorders, tic, obsessive compulsive personality disorder , major depression , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and enuresis Causes can also cause nail disease.
What are the harms of nail biting?
Nail eating disease, defined as onychophagia, can cause damage to the tissue around the finger, nail and nail, resulting in deformity over time. The bad appearance of the nail and the surrounding tissue can cause a person to feel bad, worry and decrease their self-esteem, negatively affecting their social life. In the long term, nail beds can be damaged and nails may fall. If the person who eats the nails swallows their nails, discomfort such as a stomach infection may occur. Many infectious diseases can occur due to the constant contact of the nails with the mouth. There may be impairments in the jaw joint and tooth structure. Conditions such as the jaw not known to close normally may develop, known as malocclusion.
How is nail eating disease treated?
The first step to nail treatment is to ignore the child's nail eating habit in the early period. It is necessary to direct the child who eats the nails in the early cases of onychophagia, to the different actions that he / she should use, and never warn. However, if nail-turning becomes a habit, the underlying causes of this behavior should be investigated first. With elimination of focus and positive motivation, this can be eliminated entirely. In adults, motivation is extremely important. Elimination of emotional and physical triggers such as boredom, anxiety and stress, keeping nails short, regular manicure is beneficial in leaving the habit. In addition, the use of bitter nail polish can help quit nail eating habits. If, despite all this, the habit of eating nails continues, cognitive and behavioral therapy approaches can cure nail eating disease.

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