What your nails say about your health?
There are things your nails tell about your health that you don’t know about. This post will explain five things your nails reveal about your health.
A saying that goes ‘a person can tell a lot about you by your fingernails’ and that they can often be a person’s first impression of you.
However, some things that may be going on with our nails may be a bit bigger than having a good manicure or remembering not to peel off your nail polish. Some things may be indications that other more serious things could be going on within our bodies. Let’s take a look at some indication that our nails tells about our health that may warrant us to see a doctor.
5 Fingernail Textures and Colors Say About Your Health
Thick Nails
Most people just assume that hard, thick nails are typically caused by some sort of fungus that has grown deep beneath the bed of the nail, and this can be very true, especially in toe nails. However, keep in mind that there are plenty of other health reasons to see thickened nails when peering down at your hands. One cause of this can be several forms of psoriasis. While it typically manifests on the skin, it may also affect the nails, causing them to be thick and almost rough. Thick, brittle nails can also be a side effect of diabetes.
Yellow Nails
If your nails seem to look healthy in other aspects but a little yellow to you, don’t just assume that this is caused by your nail polish or the remover. Some people even believe that discoloration can be caused by constantly wearing nail polish. A yellowing of the nails can however indicate a type of infection. Learning a bit more to the serious end, yellow nails, along with frequent urination and some tiredness, could be a side effect of diabetes. When this occurs, glucose attaches itself to the nails, taking away the usual pink color and replacing it with a yellow hue. Smoking can also cause yellowed nails.
White Spots and Scrapes
Leukonychia are the small white spots and scrape-like marks that show up occasionally on our fingernails. Sometimes they are caused merely by scrapes and scuffs that are made when manicuring, such as when filing or removing nail polish, or by hitting our nails up up against other objects on accidents. However, they can also show allergic reactions, as well as many types of infection that can occur throughout the body. But more than likely, the small white spots indicate a type of deficiency, most often calcium-based or vitamin B12. They can also be a sign of a type of kidney or liver disease.
Darkened Nails
Sometimes we hang up our hands up against something or swing down a hammer a little too close to our fingers, creating what looks like an angry bruise on our fingernails. But other times, when we know we haven’t injured our finger nails in some other way, we must look to other health reasons for why our nails are developing these dark spots.
Brittle Nails
Brittleness of the nails are nails that can easily become cracked, chipped, split, or peeled. A dry and brittle nails are the result of too little moisture. They’re most commonly caused by the repeated washing and drying of fingernails. On the other hand, soft and brittle nails are caused by too much moisture, often a result of overexposure to detergents, household cleaners, and nail polish remover.