Fingernail Diagnostics: Get a Handle on Your Health

For signs of health, look no further than your hands.

As early as 400 B.C.E., Hippocrates taught that the nails reflect the condition of the inner body. It is true that abnormalities of the nails can often provide early clues to common medical problems or severe systemic diseases.

Take a few moments and examine your unpolished fingernails under a good light. You will gather a new appreciation for how your lifestyle affects your nails and overall health.

Nails grow at different rates due to age, nutrition, and health factors. Under the best of conditions, a nail grows about .004 inches a day or 1/8 of an inch each month. It takes about six months for a new nail to grow from cuticle to tip.

Use this diagnostic chart to look at and understand the condition of your nails:

Complete loss of nail: Trauma

Nail plate loose: Injury; nail psoriasis; fungal or bacterial infections; medicines; chemotherapy; thyroid disease; Raynaud’s phenomenon; lupus.

Wasting away of nails, nail loses luster and becomes smaller: Injury or disease.

Thickened nail plate: Poor circulation; fungal infection; heredity; mild, persistent trauma to the nail.

Pitted nails sometimes with yellow to brown “oil” spots: Eczema or psoriasis; hair loss condition.

Very soft nails: Contact with strong alkali; malnutrition; endocrine problems; chronic arthritis

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Read more: Health, Natural Remedies

Adapted from Natural Hand Care, by Norma Pasekoff Weinberg. Copyright (c) 1998 by Norma Pasekoff Weinberg. Reprinted with permission of Storey Books.
Adapted from Natural Hand Care, by Norma Pasekoff Weinberg.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Kristina C.

1:25PM PST on Jan 12, 2012

interesting - thanks

send a green star

Marlene C.

11:37PM PDT on Oct 29, 2011

Great info. Thanks !

Quanta K.

5:11AM PDT on Sep 13, 2011

noted

Katie D.

5:58PM PDT on May 12, 2011

Thank you. I'm going to get my kidneys and thyriod checked out! No wait i know my thyriod is ok. Maybe i'm just getting old.

Evelyn P.

4:09PM PDT on May 11, 2011

thanks for the insightful and helpful info.

will make sure to check on my nails, as well as my family's.

Christine F.

1:45PM PDT on May 11, 2011

Thank you for sharing the information.
Like so many of the other comments - I've known for years that finger nails can be a major diagnostic tool - I just didn't know exactly what or how!
And I really do prefer to be informed.

Elizabeth M.

11:08AM PDT on May 11, 2011

Thank You Annie B. Always good articles. This one is of particular interest to me as I have longitudal lines on my nails that even show up with nail polish, 2 coats even...my physician chalked it up to aging!

Grainne O.

2:58AM PDT on May 11, 2011

Thanks for info. I can definitely believe this. Since I cut out meat and dairy from my diet, and seriously cut down on sugar and bad fats etc. my nails look superb. I used to alway have a French manicure, but now they just need a bit of filing to look great!

Deborah F.

6:48AM PDT on May 10, 2011

I always knew that there was information in fingernails. I'd heard that pale nail beds indicated anemia. But that's all I knew. Thanks for the info.

Liny T.

3:01AM PDT on May 10, 2011

woe i didn't know fingernail also can diagnose certain diseases, thanks!