Nail Health Issues

Most of the white spots, shallow vertical lines, small area depressions, and small number of crescents that you can observe on your nails have nothing to do with visceral lesions. They are either local external stimulation, transient damage caused by exposure to chemicals, or normal physiological aging. Only when it is accompanied by pain, large-scale discoloration, severe deformation of the nail plate, or combined with general discomfort, do you need to consider the possibility of disease.

I said this at least twenty times a day when I was outpatient in the dermatology department - after all, when I watch short videos now, eight out of ten health-care contents can pull off nails. Sometimes they say that vertical lines mean liver poisoning, and sometimes they say white spots mean there are worms in the stomach. Many people raised their hands and leaned under the lamp to watch for half an hour. The more they watched, the more they felt that their lives were not long, so they came to register in a panic. Last week, I met a sophomore boy who came in with his hands clenched and his face turned pale. He said that the white spots on his fingernails were due to calcium deficiency. He had been taking calcium supplements for three months and it was still not gone. He also said that it was a precursor to lung cancer and he couldn't sleep. I took his hand and took a look. There was a white spot the size of a millet grain on each of his fingernails. I asked him if he had poked his fingers while playing basketball last month? He was stunned for a long time and patted his head. He said that someone hit his finger while grabbing the ball in a basketball game last month. The pain lasted for two days and he didn't take it seriously. You see, this so-called "lesion signal", to put it bluntly, is a small trauma to the nail matrix, just like a bruise on your arm, but the nail is a cuticle, and if the bruise cannot penetrate, it will turn into a white spot. After two or three months, as the nail grows forward, it will disappear if you cut it off. It has nothing to do with calcium or lungs. Of course, there are a small number of people whose white spots are caused by long-term iron or zinc deficiency, but they are usually over a large area and appear on multiple nails. They are also accompanied by a pale complexion and easy fatigue. Only then do you need to check for trace elements. There is really no need to patch up a single white spot.

As for the vertical lines that everyone is most concerned about, there is actually no completely unified statement in the academic community: the mainstream clinical view of dermatology is that the shallow vertical lines that appear after the age of 30, are uniform and fine, and have no obvious concave and convex feeling, are the "wrinkles" of the nails. Just like the fine lines on the skin and the graying of hair, they are normal aging and should not be ignored at all. However, there are also follow-up studies in the nutritional field that show that people who have been vegetarians for a long time and have never touched foods rich in vitamin A, such as animal liver, carrots, and mangoes, even in their early 20s, may develop obvious vertical lines. For these people, if they supplement vitamin A appropriately, most of them will see improvement in 2-3 months. For the first two years, I ate takeout every day while working on a project. I almost never touched fresh fruits and vegetables. The vertical lines on my fingernails were so obvious that I could feel them. Later, I gnawed a carrot every day, and I did lose a lot of weight in less than two months. I personally tested this to be effective, but there is no need to buy hundreds of multivitamins just for this. Eating two more orange-yellow fruits and vegetables is better than anything else.

There are also many girls who are prone to small pits on their fingernails. When they checked, they said they had psoriasis, which frightened them half to death. A few months ago, I met a girl who was a manicurist. Her ten nails were all covered with tiny pits. She came crying and said she was afraid that she would pass psoriasis to her clients. When I asked about it, I found out that she did her own manicure every day in order to make it convenient for customers. When removing it, she used a polisher to grind the nail surface until it was almost transparent. The nail matrix was repeatedly stimulated and the pits formed. She stopped doing manicure for 3 months before coming back again. When she went back to see a doctor later, the pits were basically gone. Oh, by the way, if your child has small dimples on his nails, don’t panic. Most of them are because they like to chew on their nails, so just keep your mouth shut. Of course, this does not mean that all pits are related to manicure and nail biting. If you have psoriasis on your scalp or joint pain, you really need to check for the possibility of psoriasis. But if you just have small pits on your nails, first think about whether you have been regularly grinding your nails or picking at the hangnails around your nails recently. Most of them are caused by local irritation.

There is also the crescent moon that is said to be magical. The idea that "the more crescent moons are, the healthier you are, and if you have fewer crescent moons, you will have kidney deficiency." This is pure nonsense. The size and number of the crescents are completely innate and are only related to the position of your nail matrix: for some people, the nail matrix is ​​in the front, and the exposed crescents are much larger. For some people, the nail matrix is ​​at the back and is covered by the nail epithelium. Naturally, the crescents cannot be seen, and it has nothing to do with whether your kidneys are good or not. There was a retired old leader who had crescents on both thumbs. After listening to a health care class, he said that he had severe kidney deficiency. He ate cordyceps, ginseng and deer antlers every day, which caused his nose to bleed and his blood pressure to spike.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that all nail abnormalities don’t need to be taken care of. There are a few situations where you really need to go to the hospital in time and don’t take it hard: For example, a black line suddenly grows on the nail, extending from the root of the nail to the tip of the nail. It is getting wider and darker, and the color is getting darker and darker. If it exceeds 3mm, you should be alert to the possibility of onychomycosis or even melanoma. Don’t cut and apply medicine on your own, and see a dermatologist as soon as possible. If your nails suddenly turn gray, yellow, thick and flakey, it is most likely onychomycosis, also known as onychomycosis. Antifungal treatment should be standardized and do not blindly soak in vinegar or apply folk remedies. The more you use it, the worse it will become. If the entire nail is raised, or if the periungual area is red, swollen, pus-filled and so painful that you can't sleep, it is paronychia, and it needs to be treated in time. Don't let it become chronic and cause trouble.

As for how to maintain your nails in daily life, it’s actually not that particular. Different people have different habits: some doctors around me like to apply a layer of formaldehyde-free nail polish from a regular brand to isolate themselves from irritation when they come into contact with disinfectant every day.； Some doctors think that the solvent in the nail polish will actually damage the nails, so they don't apply anything at all. It's good to just rub some hand cream around the nails after washing your hands. My own experience is that when handling things like dish soap, disinfectant, and toilet cleaning liquid, try to wear nitrile gloves and don’t touch them directly. They are more effective than any nail polish. ； Don’t do manicures every day, especially those that have very hard polished surfaces. Do it once a month at most to give your nails two weeks to breathe. ； Also, don’t tear the barbs around the nail circumference with your hands. Use small scissors to cut them at the root. If they are torn, you will easily get paronychia, which will be really painful.

To be honest, nails are just a protective layer of cuticles that grow on the hands. Don’t add so many "visceral barometers" to them. If there is any minor abnormality, first recall whether you bumped into something recently, whether you stayed up late to eat, or whether you did manicures. Most of them are minor problems. If you are really unsure, just spend more than ten yuan to get a regular dermatology account. The doctor will put your mind at ease after just one look. It is 10,000 times better than scaring yourself by watching a short video self-examination.