Nails and your health

Your nail appearance can tell you about many illnesses in your body.

• Very pale nails which reflect the blood flow in the skin underneath can indicate anemia.
• White spots can signal liver problems and Zinc deficiency.
• Brown tips on nails mean kidney problem.
• Red moons signal heart disease.
• Yellowed, thickening, and slow-growing nails tell about a respiratory illness or from swelling of your hands (lymphedema).
• Nail problems such as pitting: small depressions in the nails and splitting can be the result of skin disorder; psoriasis.
• Clubbing occurs when the tips of your fingers enlarge and your nails curve around your fingertips. This condition results from low oxygen levels in your blood and could be a sign of lung disease. Clubbing is also associated with inflammatory bowel disease; cardiovascular disease; and liver disease.
• Spoon nails are soft nails that look scooped out. The depression usually is large enough to hold a drop of liquid. Spoon nails may be a sign of iron deficiency anemia.
• The condition known as Terry's nails, your nails look opaque, and the tips have white bands like French manicure. Sometimes this can be attributed to aging. In other cases, it can be a sign of serious illness, such as: congestive heart failure; diabetes; liver disease; or malnutrition.
• Beau's lines are indentations that run across your nails. They can appear when growth at the area under your cuticle is interrupted by injury or severe illness. Diseases associated with Beau's lines are: Uncontrolled diabetes; Circulatory diseases; Illness associated with a high fever caused by pneumonia, scarlet fever, mumps, measles; or malnutrition.
• If your fingernails become loose and can separate from the nail bed, this may be associated with:Injury or infection; Thyroid disease; Drug reactions; Reactions to nail hardeners or acrylic nails; or Psoriasis.