this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2024
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I got a pretty bad infection on my thumb years ago from biting my nails. Doctor had to remove a chunk of infected tissue/pus or whatever it was using a scalpel. He tried 3 times to do local anesthesia, didn't work, so finally he said he just needed to get it done. It was the most agonizing thing I've ever experienced.
Do you still bite your nails after that? Not judging, genuinely curious.
I still did for a while after that, though I think I tried to be a lot more careful. A couple years ago I started to wear clear teeth aligners to straighten my teeth, and I couldn't really bite my nails while wearing them. Since I had to wear them 24/7 for 6 months I ended up losing my nail biting habit entirely.
I'm glad you got to a point where you stopped (and good for you for looking after yourself and straightening your teeth). It's wild that the habit pathways we build in our brain are so ingrained that even after such an unpleasant consequence we keep going, even without a chemical dependency.
From biting your nails??? No judgement, just curious if you mean the skins around and under your nails, or just literally biting them short... for reasons
It was the skin on the side of my thumb that folds under the nail. I used to chew through it sometimes when I had a hangnail from nail biting.