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Onychotillomania

Field	Value
name	Onychotillomania
image	Onychotillomania.jpg
alt		caption = The fingernail of a subject exhibiting the signs of the neurosis

Onychotillomania is a compulsive behavior in which a person picks constantly at the nails or tries to tear them off. It is not the same as onychophagia, where the nails are bitten or chewed, or dermatillomania, where skin is bitten or scratched. Onychotillomania can be categorized as a body-focused repetitive behavior in the DSM-5 and is a form of skin picking, also known as excoriation disorder.

It can be associated with psychiatric disorders such as depressive neurosis, delusions of infestation and hypochondriasis.

It was named by Jan Alkiewicz, a Polish dermatologist.

The constant destruction of the nail bed leads to onychodystrophy, paronychia and darkening of the nail.

Some cases have been treated successfully with antipsychotics.

One cheap solution suggested by researchers is to cover the proximal nail fold with a Cyanoacrylate glue. "The mechanism of action for improvement is probably related to the presence of an obstacle to picking."

References

(2006). "Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology". Saunders Elsevier.
(1985). "Onychotillomania. 2 case reports". Dermatologica.
(July 2006). "Two Cases of Onychotillomania.". Korean J Dermatol.
(2009). "Professor Jan Alkiewicz, MD, and his influence on 20th century dermatology and mycology". [[Clinics in Dermatology]].
(2009). "Clinical Management of Psychodermatology". Springer.
(1990). "Nail biting and picking as a possible cause of longitudinal melanonychia. A study of 6 cases". Dermatologica.
(1982). "Onychotillomania treated with pimozide (Orap)". [[Acta Derm. Venereol.]].
(November 2010). "Inexpensive solution for habit-tic deformity". Archives of Dermatology.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

body-focused-repetitive-behavior conditions-of-the-skin-appendages mania neurocutaneous-conditions

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