[1] Mucophagy comes with some health risks due to the potential physical aggravation resulting from the action of nose picking, and the germs on fingers and in mucus.
[1] Picking one's nose can cause upper airway irritation as well as other injuries including nasal septal perforation (a "through-and-through defect" of the cartilage separating the nostrils),[2] and epistaxis (nosebleed).
[4] The Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder Association of South Africa collectively concluded that nose picking and mucophagy are passing behaviors.
They discovered that those with compulsive issues showed correlations between nose picking and self-mutilation motives.
[6] Moreover, Andrade and Srihari cited a study performed by Sidney Tarachow of the State University of New York which reported that people who ate their boogers found them "tasty.