Warning Signs Of Dermatophagia

Dermatophagia is a body-focused repetitive behavior that causes someone to gnaw or bite their skin, especially around the fingers. The disorder involves conscious and unconscious biting on the skin around the nails and knuckles. This biting leads to discoloration, pain, bleeding, and scarring. Typically, dermatophagia does not include the consumption of the skin being bitten. The disorder can be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which, by definition, would trigger someone to continue doing the behavior even though it is damaging the skin and causing pain. There are some telltale signs of the disorder that should be recognized when getting a diagnosis or assessment.