In this write-up, you will learn the signs your fingernails give to you about your health and the interpretation of some diseases.
First of all, you need to do this:
Closely observe your nails, carefully examine any groove, ridge, dip, and curve. Look at how thick or thin they are, are they chipped or broken. Examine the nail color, the skin underneath the nail and the skin surrounding it. Keep reading to know what warning signs your fingernails are giving you.
What are your fingers warning you about?
SPLIT NAILS:
Split nails usually flake away in the layer and the worse is that many people put the blame on nail polish.
They are usually caused by protein, Vitamin C, and folic acid deficiencies.
Pitted nails and these kinds of nails indicate psoriases which begin in nails 1/10 of the time. Split nails also occur due to chronic malnutrition. Check your diet and the psoriasis relationship to be able to fight back.
CLUBBED NAIL:
Clubbed nails can be recognized by the way they puff around the fingers and the skin around them is bloated. They may indicate:
- AIDS
- Lung diseases particularly if you have difficulty in breathing
- Liver disease.
- Inflammatory bowel disease.
DISCOLORED NAILS:
The color of a healthy fingernail is pink with a touch of a white moon at the base. If the color of your nail is different, it means you have a hidden health condition.
- White nails indicate the presence of liver disease e.g hepatitis
- Bluish nails indicate a low amount of oxygen in the blood.
- Green nails indicate the presence of some bacterial infection.
- Dark stripes at the top indicate congestive heart failure and aging.
- Dull nails indicate a deficiency in vitamins.
- The red streak in the nail bed indicates you have an infection in the heart valve.
Scrub your nails and examine the color again. Put into consideration the number of possible health conditions, you need to know what sign you nail is giving you.
THICK NAIL:
A thick nail is not a normal condition. The nails should be strong; be careful if they resemble talons or claws.
- Rough-textured and thick nails are usually a sign of fungal infection
- Abnormal thick nails indicate the presence of lung disease
- Such kind of nails separated may mean psoriasis or thyroid disease.
- Unusual thickness could be a sign of circulation issue.
Watch out for an allergic reaction to new drugs if you have thick nails.
CONCAVE NAILS:
Your nails should curve up to form a dip to qualify as full spoons. Many issues can be an indicator, they include the following:
- Deficiency in Iron.
- Hypothyroidism
- Heart disease
- Hemochromatosis – a liver disorder whereby the body absorbs too much of iron.
The connection between health challenges and fingernails is very real, what you need to do is treat the health problem that causes spoon nails and they will return back to their natural form.
PITTED NAILS:
Small dips in the nails may arise due to the banging of the hands or may be indicative of an underlying health condition such as:
- Zinc deficiency
- Connective tissue disorder
- Psoriasis
- Alopecia areata – an autoimmune abnormality that causes loss of hair.
They will clear up immediately if they are natural dents while pits related to disease tend to persist.
RIDGES:
A healthy nail has invisible lines on a smooth surface. If your nails have ridge lines, it is a warning sign for a situation such as:
- Lupus
- Iron deficiency
- Inflammatory arthritis
Do not ignore the signs, rather seek for the underlying causes.
BRITTLE AND DRY NAILS:
- Nails and brittle nails have a close connection with hormonal imbalance and bacterial infections.
- The fungus can cause nails to crumbly or even become dry.
- Both fungal and thyroid issues require a longer time to heal, so for a complete growth cycle do not expect to see any tangible changes.
- Thyroid disease may be revealed through signs of dry and brittle fingernails