How to do a nail health check

In fact, nail health check-up is not as complicated as you think. Routine check-ups can be done at home. If you find any abnormality, you can just go to the dermatology department for a targeted check-up. There is no need to go to the hospital for a full set of tests.

Just find a place with plenty of natural light. After washing your hands, wipe off the hand cream and nail polish on the nail surface. First, check whether the overall color is a uniform light pink, and then touch the nail surface to see if it is smooth. Finally, use the fingertip of the other hand to lightly press the tip of the nail. Press it and it will turn white. After releasing it, it will turn back to light pink within 1 second. Basically, there is no big problem. When I was doing health science popularization in the community last month, I met a little girl who was just in her second year of high school. All ten of her fingernails were covered with dense white dots. She did a search and said she had worms in her stomach. She was so scared that she cried for a long time.

I have to be honest here. There are too many opinions about nail signals on the Internet. Even in the industry, there are many controversies. For example, people often ask whether vertical lines are caused by liver and kidney problems. The current mainstream view is that most uniform shallow vertical lines are the normal aging of the nail matrix, which is the same as wrinkles on the face. There is no need for special intervention; however, some clinical doctors have suggested that if many deep, uneven vertical lines suddenly appear in a short period of time, and the nails become brittle and easy to split, then it is necessary to consider whether there is insufficient nutritional intake or chronic eczema around the nails, which cannot be generalized. There is also the issue of how many crescents there are, and they are born with too many. Some people's nail matrix grows far back, and few crescents are exposed. Since childhood, they only have the crescents on the thumb, which is completely normal. Only when the crescents suddenly disappear in large areas or grow suddenly in a short period of time, do you need to be alert to thyroid problems.

If during self-examination, you find that your nails are inexplicably gray and thick, have unknown black spots, or are painful after several days of pressing, go directly to the dermatology department for a consultation. The doctor usually observes with the naked eye first, and will most likely do a nail fungus microscopy first, which means scraping some debris under the nail and looking at it under a microscope to rule out the most common onychomycosis, which is onychomycosis. I used to have a friend who always had manicures, and her nails slowly turned cloudy. I applied medicine to treat onychomycosis at home for two months, but it didn't work. After going to the hospital for a checkup, I found out that the nail was malnourished due to the long-term sealing layer. She didn't even prescribe medicine. She stopped doing manicure for three months and the condition healed on its own. Unless other systemic problems are suspected, further dermoscopy or even blood drawing and pathological examination are required, which are generally not needed.

By the way, whether it is self-examination or going to the hospital for examination, it is best not to do manicures or apply colored nail polish two or three days in advance, otherwise the color will be blocked tightly and you will not be able to see any details clearly. Last time at the free clinic, I met a girl who came to the free clinic wearing black nail polish. After ten minutes of nail polish removal, I finally found that the nail polish pigment had settled on the nail surface. There was no problem, and it was a waste of time.