Hangnail

To many who compulsively pick their fingers — the small strip of torn, loose skin jutting out between the fingernail and the nail fold is the ultimate prize. Its “why we pick” .

The most common causes of a hangnail are:

• Dry skin — causing the nail plate to splinter at the edges
• Nail biting — the result of nervously biting at the nail edges

Some curious hangnail facts

• A hangnail is actually skin. Its not nail at all — its dead, dried skin. The calcium and fiber-rich fingernail is made of a completely different material — keratin.
• Picking a hangnail causes injury. Instead of cleanly cutting a hangnail with a scissors or clipper — the recommended way to remove it — pulling and picking at it often results in additional skin being ripped off its attachment. The psychic pleasure of this to the obsessive-compulsive picker is actually a desirable thing. If pain and self-injury results — all the better.
• The “hang-” part of the word “hangnail” actually has its roots in the Old English term Agnai — meaning “corn on the foot”. The coincidence of the old word — which lost its meaning — melding with the newer word “hang” resulted in the descriptive term we use today.