This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (6)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Case Report

FRANK C. COMBES, M.D.; MICHAEL J. SCOTT, M.D.

AMA Arch Derm Syphilol. 1951;63(6):778-780.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Onychotillomania is an uncontrollable desire to pick or tear the nails, usually a manifestation of a compulsion neurosis. It is similar to, but to be differentiated from, onychophagia, the habit of biting the free edge of the nails. Either may result in pronounced nail deformities. The treatment of onychotillomania consists in psychotherapy and the application of occlusive dressings. A fairly extensive review of the literature in English fails to disclose a single recorded case of this disease. In the German literature, Alkiewicz¹ refers to the condition.

REPORT OF CASE

A 60 year old woman complained of progressive deformity of several finger and toe nails, of four years' duration. The condition initially involved the nail of the right third finger; subsequently other finger and toe nails were affected. The use of finger nail polish was denied. Incidentally, the patient was left handed. Otherwise the history was noncontributory.

Physical examination disclosed . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
NEW YORK

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?