Stop Nail Biting – It Can Cause Infections

You bite your nails, or want to help someone you know to learn how to stop nail biitng? Otherwise, you would not be reading this post. You already know id is a bad habit that non-nail biters find icky and can’t fathom why anyone would do it.  Besides the appearance and loss of social status issues, nail biting presents health risks.

Onychophagy means nail biting in medical terms

There is a medical term for the compulsive habit of nail biting. It is called onychophagy, which is also spelled, onychophagia, is the word doctors use to describe nails deformed by chronic nail biting. There are numerous remedies, solutions, products, and gimmicks that can help a nail biter reverse the habit.  Just learning how to maintain nails with regular manicures can greatly alleviate the condition for many. To quit long term, you need more help than having a manicure. One place you can get it is in my book, How to Stop Nail Biting, which is available on Amazon.com and other online bookstores.

Nail biting is not just unsightly, it can make you sick

Many nail biters can learn to quit on their own, but for those for who suffer from it as a severe and a deeply ingrained compulsive habit, seeking professional medical help may be advised. The act of nail biting in itself typically is not a cause of llong-term damage. Nevertheless, the act of repeatedly putting your fingers in your mouth throughout the day can lead to medical problems. Consider just doing this is at least a very unhygienic practice. Your fingertips are loaded with bacteria, which puts you at varying degrees of risk when it enters your body through your mouth.

Besides carrying bacteria, your fingers are a conduit for viruses. As such, you greatly increase your chances of catching a cold or another some other type of infection. If you also pull or bite your cuticles, you create open sores that can lead to serious staph infections. These bad oral fixation habits can cause preexisting skin infection to get worse or persist.

If you add to your list of reasons to learn how to stop nail biting that it is not only unsightly, but also unhealthy, it is just one more reason to quit nailbiting now. Follow this link to find useful tools and products to help you stop nail biting.

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