We all know someone who can't stop chewing their own skin. Some people have an anxious personality type and nervously bite the skin around their fingernails or the inside of their mouths to calm themselves. Interestingly, chewing and eating your skin, a condition known as Dermatophagia, has been linked to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other types of anxiety disorders.
Well, what harm is a bit of skin chewing? We all find ourselves doing it from time to time. Sometimes Dermatophagia goes way too far and becomes quite damaging for the skin around the nails. Not only is it extremely dangerous to consume the germs that gather around your nails on a regular basis, many people have developed serious infections in and around their fingernails from the tissue damage from chewing. The cuticles on your nails become infected from the germs in your saliva, especially if you chew all the time. Even if you stop chewing, the skin can become discolored as well (not pretty).
You definitely need to check out this video confession from a man named Lucas who has a serious skin-eating problem. The crazy thing is that Lucas has such a hard time not chewing his skin that he takes a huge chunk off before recording this video! In the video, Lucas describes his lifelong struggle with Dermatophagia. The problem got so bad that he had to, at the very least, stop himself from eating the dead skin, and stick only to chewing! His goal is to shame himself so badly online that he'll stop chewing his skin. Check out the video for yourself...
COMMENT on Facebook if you know someone who has a problem with Dermatophagia.
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