The healthy circle of nails becomes smaller

The health circle (a half-moon) commonly known as the "little crescent" on the nail becomes smaller. In most cases, it is a normal fluctuation of physiological metabolism. There is no need to panic at all. Only when it is accompanied by abnormal nail shape, color or general discomfort, it may be related to the disease.

Don't tell me, I actually met several people who came to me in a hurry because of this matter a while ago. My distant aunt was dancing in a square dance team to participate in competitions. She would go out early every day and come back late every day to practice dancing. She didn't even bother to eat well. One day when she was washing her hands, she suddenly discovered that there were eight little crescents on her fingers, and only two thumbs were left with a little bit left. She was so frightened that she read health posts for half a night. The next day, she packed her bag and went to the hospital for a full physical examination. No problems were found. The doctor told her to go home, stop staying up late, and eat well. Within two weeks, the missing crescent moon slowly appeared again.

Regarding the interpretation of this little crescent moon, the views of different medical systems are actually quite different. In traditional Chinese medicine, the state of the nail half month is indeed related to the qi, blood, and organ function. Many experienced traditional Chinese medicine doctors believe that if the nail half month is significantly smaller in a short period of time, and is also accompanied by cold hands and feet all year round, diarrhea after eating something cold, tiredness at ordinary times, and low and dark menstrual flow in women, it is most likely a sign of insufficient qi and blood and spleen yang deficiency. Appropriate adjustments to the diet and rest, and supplementing with food that warms yang can slowly bring it back, and it is not a serious problem.

But from the perspective of modern dermatology, the interpretation of nail and half moon is completely different. To put it bluntly, a half-month nail is a new nail that has not yet been completely cutinized. The nail matrix grows faster in the middle and slower on both sides, so that the curved white half circle is formed. Its size is first linked to heredity. When I was a trainee in a clinic, I met a 20-year-old boy who was born with small crescents on both thumbs. He received excellent scores in every physical examination every year and rarely caught colds. If the natural nail matrix grows far back and the nails are completely keratinized when they grow out, even if you are healthy, you will not be able to see a few small crescents, which has nothing to do with physical weakness. If it shrinks in a short period of time, it is mostly due to recent metabolic fluctuations - for example, staying up late for a week in a row, dieting to lose weight and lacking protein, always touching cold water with bare hands in winter, and poor circulation in the fingers due to housework every day, may cause the crescent moon to shrink temporarily, which is not a sign of a serious illness at all.

I once met a little girl who lost weight in order to wear a wedding photo. She only ate boiled vegetables for 3 months. Her baby crescents shrunk from 7 to just 1, and she also lost a lot of hair. A blood test showed mild anemia + insufficient protein intake. Later, she adjusted her diet, added a cup of milk and two eggs every day, and supplemented with some B-complex. The baby crescents grew back in less than a month.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to worry about all the crescent moons getting smaller. If you find that it is not only getting smaller, but also disappearing slowly and completely, and at the same time, the nail becomes brittle and thin, has horizontal lines and depressions, is gray and dark in color, and is accompanied by long-term fatigue, dizziness, and inexplicable weight loss, then you need to consider the disease, such as whether you have iron deficiency anemia, thyroid dysfunction, or chronic digestive system problems. Go to the hospital and take a blood test to basically diagnose it.

To be honest, every time someone comes to me with a finger in the air to ask a question about Little Crescent Moon, I always ask first, have you slept enough recently? Is the meal ready? Nine times out of ten, something went wrong with these two things. Don’t always pick at the dead skin around your nails. Don’t do manicures for several months in a row. Remember to wear gloves when going out in winter to keep your hands from freezing. When the circulation around your nails is smooth, your little crescents will naturally be stable. If you really have other discomforts, it's not too late to check it out. Don't scare yourself just by looking at a little crescent moon. You can't do that.