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Fingernail Diagnostics: Get a Handle on Your Health

posted by Annie B. Bond Sep 25, 1999 9:33 pm
Fingernail Diagnostics: Get a Handle on Your Health
20 comments

Adapted from Natural Hand Care, by Norma Pasekoff Weinberg.

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

Spoon-shaped nails: Iron deficiency; thyroid disease.

Club-like nails growing around swollen finger ends:
Chronic respiratory or heart problems; cirrhosis of the liver.

Horizontal ridges:
Injury; infection; nutrition.

Longitudinal ridges:
Aging, poor absorption of vitamins and minerals; thyroid disease; kidney failure.

Brittle, split nails: Nail dryness; nails in contact with irritating substances (detergents, chemicals, polish remover); silica deficiency.

Infected nails (red, tender, swollen, pus):
Bacterial or yeast infection.

Overlarge moons:
Overactive thyroid; genetics; self-induced trauma (habit tick).

No moons:
Underactive thyroid; genetics.

DISCOLORED FINGERNAILS
Colorless: May indicate anemia.

Red or deep pink: Can indicate a tendency to poor peripheral circulation.

Blue: Blood may not be receiving adequate oxygen due to respiratory disorders, cardiovascular problems, or lupus erythermatosus.

Yellow: Could indicate fungus, diabetes, psoriasis, use of tetracycline, or heredity.

White, crumbly, soft: May be a result of a fungus infection.

Half white/half pink: May indicate fungal infection or, more seriously, kidney disease.
Small white patches: Usually a sign of injury to the nail matrix.

Purple or black: Usually due to trauma, or may also be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency. A brown or black streak that begins at the base of the nail and extends to its tip could be a diagnostic clue to a potentially dangerous melanoma. See your health care provider.

More on Natural Remedies (323 articles available)
More from Annie B. Bond (3247 articles available)

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Natural Hand Care

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20 comments add your comment
Penny P.

The quick of the middle finger on both of my hands disappeared about a year ago. I dont racall anything happening to my nails, I just noticed that the quicks were gone, those two nails have deep longitudinal ridges, and one of them is quite pitted. Any ideas? All my other nails are perfectly normal.

Kylie H.

To Sue R:
Hi there. Im not with this site, but I've read, and had !amazing! success with rubbing almond oil (from a health food or grocery store) onto/into nails and cuticles daily to strengthen them. I do not know if this will help, but I doubt it would hurt. It makes nails very strong, and does a way with brittle fragile nails.

Sue R.
  • Sue R. says
  • Sep 21, 2009 11:29 AM

I have two nails that are becoming soft at the cuticle and I am loosing the nails. I did not injure them. What should I do? Is it a medical problem, or a vitiman deficiency?

Jocelyn Ramoran

the base of my father's fingernails are becoming some kind of black,battle green,brown, that combination of colors..what is the cause of that discoloration?

Cia A.
  • Cia A. says
  • Jun 14, 2009 1:55 PM

I painted my nails a very light white color but the next day I noticed the color had turned to a light pink color. When I took the nail polish off my nails were a orange/red color. I tried taking it off with nail polish remover but it wont come off. What do I have?

Jim Hefti

good day;-)
are we talking all nails? feet and hands? or just hands.
My hands are great, my toes are in dire need of attention;-)
thanks

Amy W.
  • Amy W. says
  • Jan 23, 2009 8:14 AM

Filing toenails down as far as is safe to do so and soaking in undiluted white vinegar will kill nail fungus. Worked for me!

patrick b.

I have had great success with Grapefruit Seed Extract with fungus on toenails for both my father and aunt who are in their nineties. Both took expensive anti fungals and used different creams, to no avail. The GSE cleared both up withing a few days. I highly recommend it for many things.

Jim S.
  • Jim S. says
  • May 5, 2008 9:21 PM

i have 3 fingernails on my left hand that are showing shades of white awkwardly at the tips.
What is this?

Shirley D.

23 yrs ago my left thumb nail split at the cuticle and the whole lower part of the nail flaked off and then came back. There was no recurrence after that until last year when it happened again only now the entire nail has come off, in pieces that are either flakes or chunks, over a 6 month period. My thumb is almost half again bigger than my other thumb and only slightly tender. The nail is growing but it is not smooth like it should be and it doesn't get very long before it starts to flake again. Near the tip there is a deep "pothole" that is not filling in either. I've been to a nail specialist but she couldn't give me an answer to what is wrong with it other than she doesn't think it is a fungus or injury. All she could talk about is cutting the nail open to see what is below it. I have been using tea tree oil on it for the last 6 months and its condition improved to the point of what I have described. Can anyone give me an idea of what is going on? This is driving me crazy and it has been a year since this all started.

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

Disclaimer: Care2.com does not warrant and shall have no liability for information provided in this newsletter or on Care2.com. Each individual person, fabric, or material may react differently to a particular suggested use. It is recommended that before you begin to use any formula, you read the directions carefully and test it first. Should you have any health care-related questions or concerns, please call or see your physician or other health care provider.

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