Nail biters provide big business for nail polish manufacturers, and recent recommendations from American Academy of Dermatology members are propping up this trade.
In a recent video posted to the Academy’s YouTube channel, called How to stop biting your nails, the academy provides a number of tips on the subject.
Among its recommendations, the academy suggests having regular manicures; it reasons that if you spend money on keeping your nails looking attractive it may make you less likely to bite them. It also suggests using a bitter tasting polish to help nail-biters break their habit.
Board-certified Dermatologist Margaret Parsons, Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology, University of California, Davis, said: “Chronic nail biting can cause serious problems. In addition to making the skin around your nails feel sore, repeated nail biting can damage the tissue that makes nails grow, resulting in abnormal-looking nails. It can also leave you vulnerable to infection as you pass harmful bacteria and viruses from your mouth to your fingers and from your nails to your face and mouth.”
The latest video is part of the academy’s Dermatology A to Z: Video Series, which runs monthly videos containing tips on how to best look after hair, skin and nails.