Health4 min(s) read
Published 16:10 13 Apr 2026 GMT
If you ever needed a reminder to stop biting your nails, this might be it.
A young woman has issued a stark reminder to those who may be guilty of the habit, after she was faced with the prospect of losing her entire finger.
You may remember having a nibble on your nails as a kid and not thinking that it has much of an effect on their appearance, or your long-term health.
But as the years have gone on, you've probably become more aware of cuticle care and how biting your nails can tranfer bacteria from the fingers to the mouth, cause infections, or even damage teeth.
For Gabby Swierzewski though, she has been biting nails well into her adulthood, though nothing more severe than a sore finger or hangnail was caused.
But in February this year, things started to take a turn for the worse.
Gabby, 21, admitted that she almost lost a finger after developing a serious condition linked to chronic nail biting, known medically as Onychophagia.
According to DermNet, this is a common stress-related or nervous habit which can involve "biting off the nail plate, and sometimes the soft tissues of the nail bed and the cuticle as well."
The TGI Fridays restaurant manager had a small torn piece of skin near her nail, which would eventually become a painful infection that needed medical attention.
Speaking to People, Gabby recalled that something felt different, explaining: “This began on Feb. 6, it initially began as a hangnail, and it was extremely painful,
“Hang nails are a common occurrence for me, so of course, I thought it would go away, as I have been biting my nails since I was eight.”
But just a day later, her finger had become "extremely swollen," and after a run of antibiotics proved unsuccessful, she would be rushed to the ER.
Gabby kept working through shifts despite suffering from excruciating pain, resulting in her finger becoming a a deep shade of purple while throbbing.
After being taken in to the ER, doctors cut into her finger and drained a number of cyst-like abscesses, though the swelling still remained, so she was referred to a specialist.
Gabby recalled that the specialist described it as “the worst case she’s ever seen” in someone her age.
So on February 19, she went through an urgent irrigation and debridement procedure, which involved a two-centimeter incision in her finger to rid of the infection.
Doctors would send tissue samples to a lab and ordered blood tests to figure out if the infection had spread to the bone, with the possibility of losing her nail or finger, very much on the table.
Luckily, by the start of March, doctors told Gabby that she wouldn't be needing another surgery or amputation of any kind, though she said they admitted that "it was pretty impressive how big my finger was.”
Despite many unsuccessful attempts to stop the habit in the past, Gabby is set on kicking it for good now, admitting: “It is a very important awareness topic and it seems like not many people knew that nail biting could cause such a big issue, including myself."
Doctors told Explaining Medicals that once the skin around the nail breaks, it makes an opening for bacteria to enter the tissue.
As the human mouth contains hundreds of microorganisms, they can be transferred into small wounds around the nail and cause various types of bacterial infection.
Symptoms with these types of infections can include redness, swelling and tenderness around the nail, with more serious situations involving the bacteria spreading deeper into the finger.
This is when incidion and drainage of the area may be required, while the possibility of antibiotics become an option.
While this may not happen to everyone who bites their nails, the risk is noteworthy due to the bacterial present in the Oral Cavity.
Doctors recommend that you keep nails trimmed and clean to combat the likelihood of infection, while actively avoiding any biting or tearing of surrounding skin, while disinfecting any small cuts near the nail.
It's important that you seek medical attention if any signs of infection appear, which can include pus, swelling, or pain which is getting progressively worse.
