Nail Health: What Your Fingernails Can Tell You About Your Health

Secrets Your Nails Reveal

Secrets Your Nails Reveal

The eyes may be the window to the soul, but your fingernails may provide a peek into the status of your health. Remember, the symptoms listed here may signal the health problems listed; they do not provide definite diagnoses. But if you notice any of these, let your doctor know.

• Pale or bluish nails: This may indicate anemia.
• Pink color slow in returning after nail is squeezed: This may indicate decreased or slowed blood circulation.
• White spots: These result from injury to the nail; they're not due to zinc or other nutrient deficiency as some people believe.
• Beau's lines: These horizontal depressions occur after a traumatic event, such as a high fever. You might even be able to determine how long ago the event occurred by the length of the nail and the rate at which it grows.
• White lines parallel to the lunula (and not the cuticle): These may indicate some sort of systemic (body-wide) insult.
• Clubbed nails: These nails are shaped like the backside of a spoon and may indicate cardiopulmonary disease or asthma.
• Spoon nails: These dip inward and could indicate certain types of anemia or injury.
• Pitted nails: These punched-out-looking spots may signify psoriasis.
• Anything resembling a wart around the nail: This could be a skin cancer and needs to be examined by a doctor.
• Dark spot: This could be melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. If the spot "bleeds" into the cuticle or nail folds or if you're fair skinned, this is a serious warning sign that requires immediate medical attention.

Nail Anatomy

Your nails are made of keratin, the same type of protein in your hair. Each nail actually consists of several parts, all of which play an important role in its health and growth:

• Nail plate: This is what you see as the fingernail.
• Nail bed: This lies below the nail plate; the two are attached. The capillaries in the nail bed nourish the nail and give it its pinkish color.
• Nail matrix: You don't see most of this, yet it may be the most important. It's below the cuticle at the base of the nail. Cells in the matrix produce the fingernail. If the matrix gets damaged, your nail will be distorted or may even stop growing completely.
• Lunula: This is the part of the matrix that you can see. It's the half-moon-shaped portion at the bottom of your nail.
• Cuticle: This fold of skin, made of dead cells, keeps foreign substances, such as infection-causing bacteria, out.
• Nail fold: This is the ridge of skin around the nail.

This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), ., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.