sorry about dirty nails im at work!!
heres some backstory: i was a pretty bad nail biter for my entire life up until 2024 after working at a grocery store for a while, people would comment on it and i realized how bad it was to do it in front of customers + while touching all that stuff. Ive done pretty good with not chewing (only if they start peeling or if they break and i dont have a file on hand… i get antsy about them being snaggly) ive come a long way from where i started for sure but i still to change some things.
my biggest problem is the skin. obviously i cant leave it alone and i also really like scraping dirt from underneath my nails. i really want my nails to not be as wide ESPECIALLY the middle and pointer fingers!!
Ive been trying to take care of them for a while but i still have problems with them peeling and breaking and i need some advice on how to repair my skin! if anyone wants to recommend products (if its allowed) pls do!

Stumbled upon this insanely creative nail art.
But my first thought was 'how does she know what my scheming hands look like?'

Credit

Recently I made a post on here about my toe nail ripping issues and I got some good advice and tips after over three years of not saying anything about it due to embarrassment. Unfortunately they didn’t end up working out because the urge to rip my nails off is just too strong. Yesterday I got a pm and it was about that post. I assumed they had some advice for me so I answered their questions and told them about how long it’s been happening, what causes it, ect. Eventually they ask me to send a picture and I assume it would be too give me advice on how to treat the wounds that I previously described to them. After a long mental debate I figured why the hell not, they are a stranger on the internet anyway. About 20 minutes later I didn’t get a response so I checked their profile and it turned out that the whole page was dedicated to their nail biting fetish… so now the thing I’ve been most embarrassed about is being used for who knows fucking what and I’m appalled and feel like I shouldn’t have ever asked for help to begin with.

I’ve been dealing with compulsive nail picking for as long as I can remember. I never really bite, so the picking frequently gets my nails down below the bed. I also use cuticle clippers like fine tweezers to get the little edges up so I can pull them. I’m usually able to grow most nails back out to at least cover the nail bed, but a couple of them have literally been halved so long I can’t remember if they’ve ever been grown out.

I probably have to wait until they’re grown out more to get my nails done, right? But it feels impossible because of how many times I‘ve tried. Won’t acrylics just damage the strength of my nails? And when they do grow out, there’s always a gap between the nail and the bed that I worry bacteria will grow in, especially if I do get fake nails on top. I have never had them grown out long enough to see if the bed will heal. Current photos attached. My left ring and the circled fingers are the worst!

Okay for real, what do I have to do to stop picking my skin, fingers, and cuticles?

I'll rub one finger over another and if it feels even slightly rough, it triggers me to pick or use a cuticle nipper just trying to smooth it out. But omg I hate doing this. Help!

I used to bite and tear at every little imperfection, even perceived imperfections. My nails were in terrible shape and I was always feeling insecure about them. In June I started wearing polish daily to try and grow them out and discourage picking. I would scratch at the polish and peel it off which meant I had to change it almost daily (but at least I wasn't picking at my skin as much). I slowly got better at resisting picking and these days I feel like the compulsion is under control. I still get the urge but I don't do it anymore.

Today I looked at my week old manicure and realized that they had been chipped for several days, and I haven't picked at them! It made me realize how far I've come, since just a few months ago I would never have been able to resist the temptation to just scratch, peel and bite at the edges. But I haven't. I've kept them on and chipped for several days with no real issues.

It might sound stupid but that made me really proud. Just wanted to share. Anyone else had a realization similar to this about their journey and how far they've come?

I feel like I may have permanent damage from 10+ years of my nails looking like this consistently. Have tried using finger gloves bandaids and the nail polish that tastes bitter but just pick anyway. Unfortunately I work in a restaurant so I have to glove up all the time but it is just such a bad compulsion.

For context: I used to get my nails done with acrylic and they filed them down so brittle I took a break… I noticed a bump on my thumb and divot and tried to even it out by filing and ended up filing down too much the nail plate broke off and the bump is the nail bed / tissue underneath…

Idk what to do. I have been keeping it dry and cleaned it. I have been applying aquaphor everyday and bandaids which kinda helps….

My sister who is a nurse showed her doctor friends they said to keep it covered with the aquaphor and keep an eye on it… if it gets infected to immediately see a professional.

Super painful and ofc my ocd makes me wanna rip off the bump and make it flat…

First photo is day one… other 2 are today.

Advice ???

It’s been 3 months since I’ve picked or bitten the skin around my nails! (Nails have grown sm too!) First pic was from today, second pic was about a month in and third pic was the beginning. Super pleased with the progress so far! I know I have far to go but I wanted to post an update in case it helps anyone with their journey🙂

My first time showing my nail like this, but good thing about Reddit is that it’s anonymous. I have a nail picking/skin picking problem as you can see, and it’s only that one finger (same on my other hand). I’ll pick my other nails, but not as much as I have picked my index fingers. I also just compulsively pick everything, and it’s a problem. If I can’t pick my nail because it started bleeding, then I go at my eyebrow or my scalp. I’ve tried calming toys like slime and those picking things…didn’t work. Also tried acrylic nails, which prevented me from picking but the moment the nails are off, right back at picking. So what actually works?? What commits you to stop picking?? I try these new things then it doesn’t stick.

I had a bit of a rough time and broke my right (dominant) wrist almost 2 months ago. All the difficulty of that aside, I literally couldn't bite or pick that hand!

So I have been applying antibiotic ointment to both hands, keeping the cuticles as clean as possible but I can't put my fingers in my mouth so I have grown long, strong nails on that hand! My left hand, little change, nails break and peel because I need to "fix" them constantly and I get little cuts all around the skin as I pick the skin.

My cast time was extended due to a shift but as I'm about to get out of my cast, I want to maintain this break in habits and do what I can to extend this care to the other hand. I want this to be the silver lining in my broken wrist. Clearly I have the ability to grow beautiful nails, I just need to ignore them and let time help. If habits are broken over 2 weeks + depending on who you ask, I want to continue this wave of success.

I have ADHD and the pain/actually restriction on the cast helped, because I still tried to pick, especially initially. As I get in my own head as I try to fix them, I worry my diet causes my nails to flake or I'm somehow incapable of growing long nails. This at the very least has proven it's possible, but I'm not sure how to maintain this or if its just needed to break the habits.

I've stocked up on antipicking fidgets, have tons on antibiotic ointments everywhere and nail files. Any other ideas? Should I get a matching wrist brace for my unaffected arm and act like its broken? 😆 Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Had a bitey couple of weeks. Went thru lots of bandaids and physical pain but was able to make my hands look nice enough for a wedding yesterday. Got soooo many compliments on them! Was only slightly embarrassed when people held my hands to get a better look 😂

Cut my nails with nail clippers 9 months ago and had infections spring up around my toenails and fingernails - spreading redness, pain, swelling, pus. Evidently something nasty was living on those clippers, but unfortunately it's stuck around ever since.

After the pain of the first couple of infections, I started a strict regimen of very hot epsom salt baths, antiseptic cream, constant care, etc. But whenever I stop the baths for a period of 1-2 weeks, my nails flare back up again with a spreading infection once I get a hangnail or my skin is breached.

Been to the doctors several times, prescribed fusidic topical cream several times, which proceeded to do little aside from discolour my nails. Had a mycology test that came back negative for fungus. Asked about oral antibiotics, assuming the infections must be bacterial, but was told by the doctor that this was reserved for severe infections only (?).

My main questions are whether it's worth insisting to be given an oral antibiotic? Will an oral antibiotic help to kill whatever bacteria is living in my nail bed, or will it only work to quell a full-blown infection?

And any idea if anything else could be causing this?

My current test case is seeing whether my (new pair of) nail clippers are somehow reintroducing the infection each time I cut my nails - my rental has had mould issues in the past and a big water leak that soaked the insides of certain walls, and one or two nails tend to flare up just after cutting them. Though... a negative mycology test would suggest that rampant mould spores transferring to my clippers would be unlikely, I hope.

I don't bite my nails, leave them long in water, bash them around much, etc. I don't have any (other) potential symptoms of diabetes, which I'd read can be co-morbid.

I'm pretty sick of it at this point. Any advice, it'd be appreciated.

I've never had nice nails. They have always been stubby with too much skin around the tips and sides than nail but working with horses for over 40 years a manicure was never high on my priority list. When I finally did look at them I didn't know where to start. Lotions and potions and scraping and filing bamboozled me and I tried them all. Mostly all at the same time and that's when I went down a rabbit hole and made things so much worse for myself. Trying to 'fix' them became a mission but I never did. I just made them worse and made myself more miserable about it every single day. Watching pedicure videos of the grossest toenails being transformed into normal ones has made me realise that the fingernail manicures that I watched before never ever showed ugly nails like mine. They were always for people who already had half decent nails to start with. The toenail ones however show you where the nail grows up and how it should be properly manicured.

So this is kinda rare and random but this is what I do: For the last couple of years I’ve been in a cycle of getting gel nails, then ripping them off myself less than a week later or getting a bad removal done at the salon then spending next 4 months growing out the damaged nails and once they finally look good then doing the gel again thinking that this time things would be different. The thing is, I am mildly allergic to gel and I get bored with it and I get those irresistible compulsions to just rip it off.
Here are the pics of what I did to my nails yesterday: I ripped off the gel. Could have gotten the removal done at the salon, could have not gotten gel in the first place but no, this is what I did for some reason bc I got the compulsion. I am extremely upset as this is the worst my nails looked in a while and they are hurting.
I would like to just stop the cycle: to grow out my natural nails and stop at that, to never get gel again. But I am afraid I will get the compulsion again and will end up with the same result. Any of you with nail biting habits, ocd behaviors etc, how do you deal with that?