Nails and disease don’t cross most people’s minds…but they should. Your nails can provide valuable health warnings and indicate a serious illness.
Take a good long look at your nails. Hold your hands in line with your nose, about a foot away from your face, and scrutinize each one.
Look at curves, dips, ridges and grooves. Check how thick or thin your nails are, whether they are chipped or broken. Note the color of the nail, the skin underneath it, and the skin around the nail.
Check your memory – have your nails always looked like this? Changes in your nails and disease are related, so be aware of new changes. Compare what you see with this innovative look to our list of eight potential nail health warnings.
- Discolored nails
Healthy nails should be pink in color with a pinkish-white (moon) touch near the base. If your nails are dull or have streaks of a different color, you may be hiding a serious health problem.
- Green nails are a sign of bacterial infection
- Red streaks on your nail bed are a sign of a heart valve infection
- Blue nails indicate low oxygen levels in the blood
- Sad nails mean lack of vitamins
- White nails are a sign of liver disease such as hepatitis
- Dark stripes on the top (Terry nails) are associated with aging and heart failure.
Give these nails a good scrub and see the color on your nails! Given the “rainbow” of potential health problems, you want to be sure you’re looking at what your fingers are saying.
- Thick nails
Thick nails are not natural. You want your nails to be strong, but be careful if they look more like nails or nails than traditional nails!
- Abnormal thickened nails are a sign of lung disease
- Thick, rough-textured nails indicate a fungal infection
- Thick and split nails mean thyroid disease and psoriasis
-An unusual thickness can be a sign of circulatory disorders
Thickening your nails is a change to adjust to other health symptoms you may be ignoring. Also, beware of allergic reactions to new medications that suddenly look like thick nails!
- Split the nails
A broken nail is not the same as the occasional crack or jammed door. Instead, these nails seem to break off in layers. Do not blame frequent hand washing and nail polish for everything, especially:
- Nail fractures are caused by folic acid, vitamin C, and protein deficiency
Split nails combined with a pitted nail bed (base) can be a sign of psoriasis, which starts in 10% of nails. - Nail breakage can be caused by chronic malnutrition
Watch what you eat, check the psoriasis connection, and pay more attention to your health.