What do Nails reveal about your health?
Take a look at your fingernails. Are they strong and healthy-looking?
Or do you see ridges, or areas of unusual color or shape?
The condition of your nails may offer clues to your general health. Illness
can cause changes in your nails that your doctor can use to develop a diagnose.
Here are a few nail disorders that may be linked with illnesses:
Indentations that run across your nail. This can appear when growth at the matrix (nail root) is disturbed by severe illness such as a heart attack, measles, or pneumonia.
Clubbing
Your fingertips widen and become round while the nails curve around your fingertips. Caused by enlargement in connective tissue as compensation for a chronic lack of oxygen. Lung disease is present in 80 percent of people who have clubbed fingers.
Hand-Half (Lindsay's nails)
Look for an arc of brownish discoloration.
May appear in a small percentage of people who have a kidney disorder.
Onycholysis (ON-i-ko-LY-sis)
The nail separates from the nail bed. Most of the time, this problem is associated with
physical injury (trauma), psoriasis, drug reactions, fungal disease or contact
dermatitis from using nail hardeners.Sometimes onycholysis can be
related to an over- or under-active thyroid gland, iron deficiency, or syphilis.
Spoon nails
Soft nails that look scooped out. Depression is usually large enough to hold a drop of liquid. This condition often indicates iron deficiency.
Terry's nails
The nail looks opaque and white, but the nail tip has a dark pink to brown band.
This can be a symptom of cirrhosis, congestive heart failure, adult-onset diabetes, cancer or aging.
Want more information on:
Bunions : Click here
Eczema: Click here
Onycholysis: Click here
Splinter Hemorrhages: Click here
Planter Warts: Click here
Onychatrophia: Click here
Myxoid Cysts: Click here
Hammertoe: Click here
Onychauxis: Click here
Corns: Click here
Pincer Nails: Click here
Nail Skin Cancer: Click here
Neuromas: Click here
Onychorrhexis: Click here
Yellow Nail Syndrome: Click here
Onychophagy: Click here
CLICK HERE...
WARNING...
Some pictures may be graphic.
Remember that the nail conditions described above are in no
way definitive proof of a bigger health problem.
Please consult with a medical professional for a reliable diagnosis.
General Nail Information
Many things determine nail growth, and each fingernail will grow at different rates.
Heredity and health determine how fast nails will grow, although the growth slows as we age.
Nails grow faster in summer than in winter, and faster during pregnancy.
After pregnancy, the rate drops back to normal.
Age also affects the growth rate with nail growth peaking
between 10 and 14 years and slowly declining after age 20.
Some of the things that slow nail growth include being paralyzed, poor circulation, malnutrition, serious infections,psoriasis and certain medications.
Many factors can cause changes in the nails, resulting in lowered levels of
strength and flexibility.
Excessive hand washing or using household cleaning solutions
without protection can rob our skin and nails of vital oil and moisture, resulting in split, peeling nails.
This is why you constantly hear the reminder to wear gloves!