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Dermatophagia (from Ancient Greek δέρμα — lit. skin and φαγεία lit. eating) or dermatodaxia (from δήξις, lit. biting) is a compulsion disorder of gnawing or biting one's own skin, most commonly at the fingers.
Treatment can include behavior modification therapy, medication, and family therapy. The evidence base criteria for BFRBs is strict and methodical. Individual behavioral therapy has been shown as a "probably effective" evidence-based therapy to help with thumb sucking, and possibly nail biting.
Reviews of treatment of excoriation disorder have shown that the following medications may be effective in reducing picking behavior: doxepin, clomipramine, naltrexone, pimozide, and olanzapine.
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 .
General medications for dermatophyte infections include topical ointments. Topical medications like clotrimazole, butenafine, miconazole, and terbinafine. Systemic medications (oral) like fluconazole, griseofulvin, terbinafine, and itraconazole. For extensive skin lesions, itraconazole and terbinafine can speed up healing.
Other forms of pica include dermatophagia, and compulsion of eating one's own hair, which can form a hairball in the stomach. Left untreated, this can cause death due to excessive hair buildup. Self-cannibalism can be a form of self-harm and a symptom of a mental disorder.
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Levetiracetam was approved for medical use in the United States in 1999 and is available as a generic medication. In 2021, it was the 101st most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 6 million prescriptions. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
Gabapentin, sold under the brand name Neurontin among others, is an anticonvulsant medication primarily used to treat partial seizures and neuropathic pain. It is a commonly used medication for the treatment of neuropathic pain caused by diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, and central pain.
For pica that appears to be of psychogenic cause, therapy and medication such as SSRIs have been used successfully. However, previous reports have cautioned against the use of medication until all non-psychogenic causes have been ruled out.