Nail Health Guide

The vast majority of minor nail abnormalities are neither "liver or kidney failure" as popularly rumored, nor are they signs of major diseases. 90% of them are related to three types of causes: external impact, local irritation, and slight nutritional deficiencies. There are only three types of abnormalities that really require medical attention.

Last week I accompanied my sister to a dermatology specialist appointment. She had three small white dots the size of rice grains on her nails. I checked on Baidu for half a night, and said with a sad face that she had liver disease. As a result, the doctor took a magnifying glass and glanced at her twice and asked her: "Have you been unpacking express delivery and picking out tape every day recently?" She then remembered that she had unpacked more than 20 cardboard boxes during the move last week, and her fingertips touched the corners of the boxes several times. The doctor said that it was just a minor trauma to the nail root, and the newly grown nails were temporarily "underdeveloped". They would be gone after a few months until the fingertips were cut off, and they didn't even need to prescribe any medicine.

As for the vertical lines on nails that many people ask about, there are indeed two opinions in the academic circles: one group believes that as long as the vertical lines are uniform, light-colored, and have no obvious bulges to the touch, it is a normal physiological phenomenon, just like wrinkles on the skin. Wake up, if the vertical lines suddenly become deeper or wider, or even turn black or crack the nails, it is necessary to check whether the nail matrix has inflammation or pigmented lesions. Both theories are supported by clinical data. You don’t have to worry about it. If there is no change, just leave it alone. If there are dynamic changes, it is not too late to see a doctor.

When I was a trainee in the dermatology department, the nail problems I saw most were not serious illnesses, they were all caused by problems. Last time, a young girl born in 2000 came to see a doctor. Her nails were as thin as rice paper, bent when pressed, and turned gray and yellow. She had already bought medicine to treat onychomycosis and was about to apply it. The results showed that all fungal tests were negative - she had been undergoing phototherapy for half a year without leaving any window period. The nail surface was polished too thin. The doctor asked her to stop doing manicures and rub the edges of her nails every time she applied hand cream. She would come back for a follow-up visit in three months. Her new nails were all healthy and light pink. I would also like to mention here that regarding the appropriate frequency of manicures, manicure circles and dermatologists now have different opinions: Most manicurists say that as long as the nail surface is healthy, it is okay to do it once a month; dermatologists generally recommend doing manicures every 2-3 times, leaving at least a window of 1-2 weeks for the nails to repair themselves.

Of course, this does not mean that all nail abnormalities can be ignored. There are three situations in which it is recommended to go to the hospital immediately: The first is that a black line with a width of more than 3mm suddenly grows on the nail, the boundary is blurred, and it is slowly getting wider. Don’t delay, go and check whether it is nail fungus. Moles or malignant melanoma, this is a real risk; the second is that the nails suddenly appear dense and thimble-like small depressions, or the entire nail becomes yellow and thick, and the subungual is empty and itchy. Check in time to see if it is psoriasis or onychomycosis. Don’t buy blindly. Applying antifungal ointment will delay the problem if it is not symptomatic; the third type is repeated redness, swelling, pus, and pain when touching the nail, which is recurring paronychia. Don't squeeze the pus yourself. In severe cases, the nail may need to be pulled out. Go to the hospital as soon as possible and apply some topical anti-inflammatory medicine.

Daily armor protection is actually not so fancy. I have used a few tricks for several years and found them useful: Don’t use your nails to open cans or tear off tape. I used to open beer with my nails to look cool and split my nails in half. It hurt for almost a week. If there are barbs on your hands, don’t pull them hard. Use a sterilized little finger. Just cut the nails off with scissors. Pulling them hard is likely to bleed, and it can easily lead to paronychia. It is best to wear nitrile gloves when washing dishes and doing housework. The strong alkali of dish soap and laundry detergent is really harmful to nails. My mother used to wash dishes every day without gloves, and her nails were so brittle that she could easily split them. After wearing gloves for half a year, her nails are now so hard that she can scratch open a courier bag. And the most frequently asked question is "Should we take nutritional supplements to nourish our nails?" It depends on the situation: If you are on a diet every day to lose weight, eat highly processed takeaways, eat little protein in vegetables, fruits, and your nails will be thin and easy to break, proper supplementation of biotin, zinc and vitamin B will really help.

To put it bluntly, nails are just a small accessory that grows on our hands. It is normal to have minor problems and ailments. Don’t go to Baidu to diagnose yourself at the slightest sign. You are really not sure. Spending more than ten yuan to get a dermatology account is much more useful than just thinking about it for a long time. Oh, by the way, here’s another piece of trivia: nails can only grow 1-2mm per month, so whether you are caring for your nails or treating nail diseases, you have to be patient. Don’t expect to be completely transformed in ten days and a half.