Even the best nails can be sacrificed for the sake of a bite. Take it from experts: those manicures just can’t stay pristine while you’re yanking your nail brush up in your mouth — and if you do it a lot, then you probably deserve to live life minus digits. Here are 12 tips to survive without nails this 2019, starting with learning to stop biting your nails.
Ditch her by pain: Dr. M. William Trevathan, a Chicago-based nail specialist, says that when he works with a new client, he wants to start the consultation with the infamous “You Are Biting Your Nails” inquiry. “It’s effective and both teach patients about the dangers of biting and explore their reaction to it,” he says. “You can also put a pad on top of the nails and they will still be able to do surgery on your finger without having to pinch the skin.” He also recommends that if a client is considering laser removal, it should be during a physical evaluation by a nail technician and consultation. Tip: Biting your nails also makes the nail cartilage below the knuckle about 32 times worse, making the removal of nails extremely painful, Dr. Trevathan says.
If you are not already: “I have clients come in with a gaping wound that will be a constant reminder of a bite that occurs,” says Dr. Amy Rappaport, director of Browbar Laser Therapy in Chicago. To treat a bite, Rappaport suggests a combination of topical and localized toxicology, often aided by a bite splint. Referrals to the Department of Dermatology are usually helpful. Tip: Even if you’re not ready to deal with the real consequences of a bite, you can still learn to stop biting your nails. Rappaport says that an intermittent application of an antimicrobial can stop biters from taking so many bites each day. And Dr. Kelly D. Kerr, a podiatrist at Foot Bar Therapy in Colorado Springs, Colo., advises: “I wouldn’t change the pattern of your nails in order to prevent a bite. I’d rather nail that tongue.”
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Aim for the web: Maybe it’s convenient and you don’t want to deal with it, but keep biting you nails until they turn the webbed-nail color? It’s a safe bet that your nails will become angrier and less accessible without a nip in the bud. Kerr suggests nip-button techniques. “In bite-proofing techniques, the patient would wedge their fingers under the webbed-nail color and in at least two arm’s reach. This will help the nail release without biting it. At the same time, pop the tip out and cut it, to remove the irritation.” Follow up, though, with long-wearing vitamin C tablets and a cuticle preserveant.
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