Onychophagia: A synopsis of nail biting and its management

Abstract

Onychophagia, also called nail biting (NB), is a body focused repetitive behaviors or self-grooming behavior. It is a group of related disorders in which an individual damages his or her appearance or causes physical injury that include pulling, picking, biting, or scraping one's hair, skin, or nails. NB is a very common, and unresolved, problem in the field of psychiatry, psychology, medicine, and dentistry. NB is a simple behavior associated with obsessive–compulsive-related disorders. The present paper focuses on the management of NB.

Keywords

• body focused
• repetitive behaviors
• nail biting
• onychophagia
• self-grooming behaviors