http://www.care2.com/greenliving/fingernail-diagnostics.html
Fingernail Diagnostics: Get a Handle on Your Health
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.
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12 comments
add your comment »i have 3 fingernails on my left hand that are showing shades of white awkwardly at the tips.
What is this?
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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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Ihave a dark purple line around the moon on my thumb, what would cause that?
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i have acrylic nails and today i bumped my pinky nail.. now its sore and has clear pus coming from under the tip /real nail.. its sore but bareable .. what can i do to make it feel better ? help me please .. thanks raven
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my nails have changed from being curved nails on top to flat, what is the problem?
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hi there afew years ago a shard of glass hit my left hand pearcing the knuckle of my forefinger,a few months later i lost that fingers nail then a few months after that nail grew back i lost another nail on another finger
, then a few months after that i lost another nail on another finger it has not grown back yet! , now i have a red shaddow appearing on the thumb now, which means i am about to lose another nail.can anyone tell me how to cure this !! thanks for reading.
terence osgood (sth wales)
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I think I have psoriasisof the nail. It's the only place on my body. Part of my nail is unattached, and the edgeof my nail that is unattached is white, and then it what they call the oil drip is pink on half of my nail.
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Intermittently, creeping white color from top to down under the nail bed on some fingernails. Then for unknown reasons it improves. What is the cause?
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Have verticle ridges on nails of both thumbs.
Nails are soft and and split in layers. Have to
take warfarin since 1986 for blood clots. Am 70
yrs. old. Ridges are weak and split. On both digets ridges are within 2/10ths from right of
both thumb nails. Have some arthritis in hands
and diagnosed on top of head and Big toes primarily on pain on left ft. toe. Take some
calcium and have extreme stomach acidity. Diet
very low cholesterol. Bad good cholesterol. Heart tests are good. Vascular not so good. Have sieve in vena cava. Have weight problem and osteoporosis. Diet restricted because of
warfarin dosage taken because of clotting. Have had serious breast cancer in past '83 - '95. Breast Carcinoma onset at about 46 years
of age - diagnosis terminal. Survived intensive chemo theraphy and radiation and dbl
mastectomies. Vitamins interfere with warfarin
doses also. Do pharmaceutical companys make
vitamins for people on blood thinners? Please
advise. Condition seems to be worsening. Kidney tests show no kidney problems as per
infections etc.. Thank you for any help or
suggestions that might help. Desperate.
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I've longitudinal ridges, but I thought they were normal(ish). I know I consume plenty of calcium, so what could be the problem? Oh, and I have moons only on some fingers. Now is that normal?
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