Most of us don’t give a lot of thought to our fingernails beyond how often to clip them or which color to paint them. But besides protecting our fingertips or making a beauty statement, your nails say a lot more about your body than you think.
“The nail matrix, the site of nail growth that hides a few millimeters underneath the cuticle, is affected by each individual's general state of health,” says Jessica Weiser, M.D., board-certified dermatologist at New York Dermatology Group. “Illness, fever, surgery, trauma, life stressors, and nutritional deficiencies all have different effects on the nails and their growth.”
To clue you in to everything your nails might be telling you about your body—from the minor to the more serious—watch for these nine things.
1. Yellow nails
"This can happen naturally with age," says Dr. Anthony. "But it's also sometimes due to nail lacquers or acrylic nails." If you often wear acrylic nails or paint your nails and are having this problem, try taking a break from the salon and give nails a chance to recover. Another possible cause: smoking, which can stain nails and give them a yellowish hue.
Usually yellow nails are a sign of an unpleasant fungal infection and it’s advisable to purchase anti-fungal tablets or a topical cream to treat this. You can also treat it with a more natural solution such as applying essential oils. Yellow nails can also be indicative of more serious illnesses namely a lung problem, such as fluid accumulation around the pleurae (a lung membrane) or emphysema.
2. White Lines
White stripes are more commonly seen as indicative of a disorder. It usually indicates an imbalanced or a non-nutritious diet, lacking in proteins. This problem can easily be resolved with an increase in proteins rich foods such as fish, quinoa, nuts, seeds and lean meats.
Many people believe that white spots on nails indicate a calcium deficiency, but this isn't typically the case: "Usually, those white spots are not very significant," Dr. Anthony says. "They're often the result of minor trauma, such as if you whack your finger against something, and aren't generally to do with calcium."
3. Ridged Nails
If you notice vertical ridges and roughness appearing in your nails that you didn’t have a few years ago, it’s probably nothing more than a side effect of aging. “They're analogous to getting wrinkles in your skin,” Sonpal says, who adds that we usually don’t notice these until around age 50. If the ridges seem particularly severe, or they pop up out of the blue, check in with your doctor to make sure there’s not something else at play.
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4. Pitted Nails
Little dents and tiny craters in the nails are known as “pitting” and are often a symptom of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that causes an itchy, scaly rash. But this particular symptom could mean more complications later on. “When you see nail involvement with psoriasis, it’s associated with a higher instance of arthritis down the road,” Chen says. Typically, pitting occurs in around half of people with psoriasis and 80 percent of people with psoriatic arthritis, she adds.
Dented nails can also be a sign of alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes you to lose your hair, Weiser says. If you’re not already being treated for psoriasis, see a derm to figure out what’s going on.
5. Brittle Nails
This issue is a common one, and there are a few possible causes. "Soft, brittle nails can occur from dryness on the nail plate," says Dr. Jaliman. "This could be from swimming, overuse of nail polish remover, frequent dishwashing without gloves, or just from living in a low-humidity environment." Other possible causes include chemicals (such as if you're frequently exposed to cleaning products) or aging. However, if brittle nails are an ongoing problem, speak to your doctor: sometimes hypothyroidism (a condition where the thyroid works too slowly) causes this side effect, too.
6. Huge Half-Moons
Everyone has little white half-moons at the base of the nails, but how big they are can clue you into some serious health issues. If they take over half the nail bed, it could be a signal of renal failure, which tends to occur in people who have diabetes or high blood pressure.
If the moons extend two thirds up the nail bed, they’re called Terry’s nails, and you’ve got another issue. “Terry’s nails are classically associated with liver failure,” says Jennifer Chen, M.D., clinical assistant professor at Stanford School of Medicine. Liver failure is pretty serious, and treatment depends on the underlying cause. Certain liver problems might be easy to fix with a lifestyle change, such as cutting out alcohol or losing weight, while others might require medication or surgery. Either way, it’s important to see your doctor.
7. This condition is sometimes called nail clubbing and involves an unnaturally large nail bed, curving around the tips of the fingers. It is not an overnight condition, and can take several years to form. The cause is often hypoxia, a lack of oxygen. It is not a symptom to ignore as it can be associated with serious diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, liver disease, lung problems, AIDS and cardiovascular concerns.
8. Concave, Spoon-Shaped Nails
This nail deformity is not subtle, and definitely weird-looking enough to catch your attention. Koilonychia, known as “spoon nails,” are most commonly due to an iron deficiency. In this case, the nail gets so thin that it actually becomes concave (as if it could hold a drop of water).
If you notice this, have some lab work drawn to determine if anemia is the issue, Weiser says. If you are iron deficient, your doc will probably recommend an iron supplement. Other causes include working with petroleum-based products or trauma. In very rare circumstances, koilonychia can be associated with thyroid disease and heart conditions.
9. Blue nails
If you find your nails suddenly have changed to a blue or purple tinge, it’s likely you have developed hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, often triggered by poor circulation to your feet, ears and hands. Impaired circulation is easily reversible and is not a serious health issue unless it goes untreated.
10. Brownish Stripes
Just like you regularly check your skin for moles, you should also keep an eye out for weird color changes in your nails. Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, can pop up in your oft-exposed nail beds and go undetected. Any sort of asymmetric pigmentation can be a sign of skin cancer, but melanoma on nails (called subungual melanoma) usually looks like a pigmented vertical band stretching upward from the cuticle.
If a brownish streak on your nail bed shows up suddenly or changes in appearance, see a dermatologist as soon as possible, Weiser says. “If pigmented bands appear on several nails, this can be a sign of a normal variant, but you should still see a doctor to be sure.”
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