on thursday, i pulled a whicklow from the side of the little finger on my left hand, ive bitten my nails for as long as i can remember (much to my mums displeasure) and thought nothing of it, when i got out of bed on friday my little finger was red and a bit sore (just round the side) and again i thought ow hurts a bit but nothing major, by saturday it was beginning to swell a bit and as the docs was shut and i didnt want to bother a and e for my finger i went to the chemist who advised magnesium sulphate to draw the infection. this didnt work and by sunday my finger was twice the size of the one on my right hand, and beginning to go purple, when i got up yesterday morning, it was so painful and the base of the nail had a delighful bubble of green under the skin so made appointment to see the nurse straight away, she took one look, called the doctor and i had to have my finger lanced!!:(, very disgusting what came out, they have sent swabs awayu and doc has given me strong antibiotics and thinks i may have infection inmy bone, if antibiotics dont work, have to go into hospital to have iv ones!!

all this from biting my nails!!!!
im going to try to stop now i think

EEEEeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww thats awful......Clipping them is much better. I should telll my sister about that she is very bad for nail biting :( The no bite nail polish didn't even work with her, her nails are so short and stubby :(

i bit my nails for years. i did it one night and they were so sore next day my husband bet me i couldnt stop. so with great willpower i did. now i love my nails and have hundreds of bottles of nail varnish and spend ages on them. i dont feel dressed when we go out unless my nails are painted!.

I've had that about 4 times now. I didn't need antibiotics, once it has been lanced it generally heals up and that's that.

I must admit though they are unbearably painful, just letting bedsheets touch your thumb is agony.
I don't even bite my nails!!(But i do use those little clipper things and it's most often when i have gone too close.)

Sarah

I'm the same as Tanni,

I bit my nails for years, it started when mom took my dummy away from me (the nasty sod!!)

Seriously, I was terrible, I was always chewing my nails, but hubby bet me that I couldn't stop it...I can't resist a challenge, so thought I'd give it a go. I really do love my nails now, and it's so nice to go out and buy a new nail polish. And for me, it's a great way to relax, I smother my hands in rich hand cream, and then give myslef a french manicure...it's lovely to see the way they look afterwards.

I still get the urge to chew them though....I'm not sure that will ever stop, but so far so good!!

I remember all the soreness by the way..damn nasty!!

Take care and good luck!

Lisa xx

Hi ,my eldest daughter is 20 and has never ACTUALLY stopped sucking her thumb ,she was born sucking it ,it took what seemed like forever to try and stop her sucking it,!! and as i say even now aged 20 when she is tired she CHEWS the side of it ,i am always telling her off !!!!!!! thanks for this post ..because if this does'nt put her off nothing will (i hope everyones fingers are soon better!) Bye Sue & Lola xx

Yup not only will you get nasty infections but eventully the top of your finger will have enough and will go bulbus , as its trying to re-compensate for the skin chewed and carry on getting thicker and thicker just like the skin on ur feet. you feet will do the same if you over exfoliate it too.
But the tips of the fingers will stay red/bulbus looking with very thick shiney skin. looks terrible! then it gets dry and starts to crack:( and youget majour infections , if it goes down to the matrix then your nail will stop growing.red or green mouldy look def isent in take a look.................... http://webferret.search.com/click?wf,nail+infection+pictures,,www.aocd.org%2Fskin%2Fdermatologic_diseases%2Fparonychia_nail_in.html,,aol

hope this puts you chewers off :D

hi sue t
i'm 22,i always used to suck my thumb but stopped when i was about 15-16yrs,my mum always used to tell me i'd suck the nail off,i never believed her and one day when i was 9,i was at school i look at my thumb and did a double take,to my dismay i had no thumb nail (i hate it when mums are always right :rolleyes: ),i hope she keeps her hand clean as she can also get worms :( .As a result i have one thumb longer than the other and a very bumpy thumb nail. :(

Same thing happened to me when I was young. I just remember being scared in the hospital & a very sore finger, while the doc was looking at it I was chewing on the other hand & he said well it won`t be long till you have another one & I thought they were going to keep me in! Never bit them again & the nail never grew back normal.

Christine, Spain.