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There is no therapy known to effectively treat dermatophagia, [citation needed] but there have been attempts at stopping those affected from being able to chew on their skin. One notable method that is currently in development is focused on in curbing dermatophagia in children with cerebral palsy.
There are several different classes of pharmacological treatment agents that have some support for treating excoriation disorder: SSRIs; opioid antagonists; anti-epileptic agents; and glutamatergic agents.
Treatment can include behavior modification therapy, medication, and family therapy. [1] [2] The evidence base criteria for BFRBs is strict and methodical. [7] Individual behavioral therapy has been shown as a "probably effective" evidence-based therapy to help with thumb sucking, and possibly nail biting. [7]
Treatments. In a study conducted in 2008, the treatment options across five patients were studied. [4] These included prescribing medicines for pain, psychotherapy for impulse control, wearing gloves and doing nothing. [4] Each of these treatments worked with varying effectiveness.
Often, the adjacent skin is bitten off, too, which is called perionychophagia, a special case of dermatophagia. Biting nails can lead to broken skin on the cuticle . When cuticles are improperly removed, they are susceptible to microbial and viral infections such as paronychia .
Dermatophagia – extreme nail biting / biting of skin to point of an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or other condition leading to self mutilating behaviour such as autistic spectrum disorders (as is the case in this example) or Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome.
Common repetitive movements of SMD include head banging, arm waving, hand shaking, rocking and rhythmic movements, self-biting, self-hitting, and skin-picking; other stereotypies are thumb-sucking, dermatophagia, nail biting, trichotillomania, bruxism and abnormal running or skipping.
Treatment. Dermographism can be treated by substances which prevent histamine from causing the reaction (i.e. an antihistamine). These may need to be given as a combination of H 1 antagonists, or possibly with an H 2-receptor antagonist such as cimetidine. Over-the-counter vitamin C, 1000 mg daily, increases histamine degradation and removal.