Friday, March 4, 2016

Get to Know What Your Nails Have to Say about Your Health

Let’s be honest; nobody really pays much heed to their nails. All of us think them to be dead cells which have nothing to do with our health whatsoever. The maximum we do is clip them and use nail paints (just for girls of course). Basically, nails really don’t feature on our ‘Things to Be Taken Care Of’ list. However, research has something else to say. According to several studies, our fingernails can tell us about our health and the presence of diseases, if any. In this article, we will enlighten with the art of reading your fingernails.

Discoloured Nails

Healthy fingernails are pink and come with a touch of pinkish white moons at the base. In case your nails show streaks of other colours, then your body might be hiding certain health issues.

  • Green nails indicate bacterial infection
  • Read streaks on the nail bed are often linked to heart valve infection
  • Matte nails are a sign of vitamin deficiency
  • Nails with a hint of blue prove that the oxygen levels in your blood are low
  • White nails are an indication of liver diseases like hepatitis
  • Dark stripes towards the top are a sign of congestive heart failure
To assess your nails properly, give them a good scrub and look at them properly for a thorough analysis.

Thick Nails

  • Having strong nails are good; however, having thick nails aren’t. Thick nails aren’t natural and if they look like paws of claws, then they might have something to say.
  • They are often related with lung diseases
  • Thick nails that come with bump texture are a sign of fungal infection
  • Divided thick nails indicate thyroid and psoriasis
  • Sign of problems with blood circulation

Other than all this, thickening of nails are associated with several other health problems like allergic reactions to certain medications.

Split Nails


Split nails look like layered ones; do not blame this appearance to your nail paints. Here’s what they have to say:
  • Deficiency of vitamin C, folic acid, and proteins
  • Related to psoriasis which begins with nails in several cases
  • A sign of chronic malnutrition

Concave or Spoon Nails

One should never ignore concave nails for they can be an indication of a number of internal problems. In this case, nails curve up owing to their softness. They also have a dip like formation that’s large enough to hold water. Here’s what they indicate
  • Severe iron deficiency
  • Linked to hemochromatosis which is actually liver disarray cause from excess of iron
  • Sign of heart related problems
  • An indication of hypothyroidism

When these tissues causing these problems disappear, the nails will end up returning to their normal shape.

Dry and Brittle Nails

Brittle nails are quite a common problem and the solution is not always the application of cuticle oils and lotions. It is very important for you to know that dry and brittle nails are often associated with the levels of hormone and bacterial health. Here’s what you must keep in mind.
  • Brittleness in fingernails is caused due to diseases of the thyroid
  • Fungal infection tends to make your nails dry and brittle

Do keep in mind that in spite of taking precautions, it might take a while to see the difference in the health of your nails until a full nail growth cycle. This is primarily because thyroid and fungal infections take a while to get cured.

Clubbed Nails

Wondering what clubbed nails are? If you have clubbed nails, the skin around them gets swollen, oval, or bloated. They are a sign of:
  • Lung diseases, especially if you have troubles with breathing
  • Inflammatory bowel diseases
  • AIDS
  • Liver diseases

Ridges on Your Nails

Ridges are nothing but the lines that are present on the surface of your nails. If these lines are smooth and latent, then your nails are healthy. However, if you can see noticeable and prominent ridge lines in between, they can be an indication of health problems. Heavy ridged lines are a sign of iron deficiency and inflammatory arthritis. If you have red lines at the base of the nails, then they are a sign of lupus or inflammation of the skin.

So, these were some of the most common conditions associated with our fingernails. However, before you start to panic, you should remember that your fingernails are not the only indication of the presence of these health problems. However, it is advised that you shouldn’t ignore these signs. It’s better to be sure of something rather that ignoring it, right?