Signs of nail health

The entire nail surface is a uniform light pink color, the surface is smooth, there are no obvious depressions or raised deep lines, and the texture is tough but not brittle. Press the tip of the nail with your finger and release it. The pale nail surface will quickly return to ruddy color within 1-2 seconds. This basically means that the nail is in a healthy state.

I have been working in a dermatology clinic for almost 8 years, and I have seen many people come up to me with their hands raised as soon as they come in, asking, "Is it because I have only two crescents? Is it because of kidney deficiency?" "Is it because there is a liver problem if there are vertical lines on my nails?" In fact, the academic community has always had different views on these widely circulated folk judgment standards. For example, many schools of traditional Chinese medicine believe that the number and size of crescents are related to the state of qi and blood. A sudden decrease in the number of crescents or blurred boundaries may indicate slow metabolism and insufficient qi and blood. ； However, the common view of modern Western medicine is that the essence of the lunula is incomplete keratinization of the nail matrix. Whether it is exposed or not depends on the position of the innate nail matrix. Some people are born with the nail matrix growing far back and have fewer teeth in their lifetime. As long as there are no sudden increases, decreases or discoloration in a short period of time, it is not considered abnormal at all.

Last week, I saw a little girl who was a junior in college. She was so nervous that she was holding her hands. She said that she had stayed up for more than a month and night preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, and suddenly she found a lot of small pits on her nails. After searching for a long time, she said it was "psoriasis nails", which scared her so much that she couldn't even sleep. I looked at it with a magnifying glass for two minutes and then reassured her - it was because she kept chewing her nails and picking at the hangnails around her nails unintentionally when she was reviewing. The nail matrix was slightly stimulated by a slight external force, and the keratinization process temporarily fluctuated. She should stop picking her nails randomly and adjust her work schedule to get more sleep. It would take at most two months for the new nails to grow back and everything would be fine.

Many people tend to regard some temporary nail surface abnormalities as major problems, such as small white spots on the nails. Six out of ten of my patients will ask whether they are suffering from calcium deficiency or whether they have roundworms in their stomachs. Really not, the scientific name of this thing is "spotted white nails". 99% of the cases are due to previous minor trauma to the nail pericarp. For example, a finger was pinched when closing the door, or the nail scissors hit the nail root too hard. The nail matrix was slightly stimulated, and the grown nails will have small white spots. As the nails grow forward, they will disappear after being cut. It will not affect anything. There is no need to use calcium supplements and insecticides at all.

Girls who often do manicures must have had this experience: after doing manicures for several months, they found that their nails were soft and not shiny after removing them, and they felt that their nails were completely ruined. In fact, in most cases, there is not something wrong with the nails themselves, but the nail surface is polished too hard during manicure, and the nail polish remover corrodes the surface cuticles. If you stop doing manicure for 1-2 months, when the nails are completely renewed, the original texture will return, so don't be too anxious.

Of course, not all abnormalities on the nail surface need not be taken seriously. I also have to remind everyone: if the nail suddenly turns gray and thick, and the surface is still crumbly, it is most likely to be onychomycosis, which is what we often call onychomycosis. It must be treated as soon as possible, otherwise it will be easily transmitted to other nails and even family members.； If a dark brown vertical line suddenly grows on the nail surface, and the boundary is blurred and becomes wider, and even the skin around the nail becomes black, you must go to the hospital for investigation quickly to rule out the possibility of onychomycosis or even malignant melanoma. This is no joke.

Speaking of which, I had been working on a project for more than half a month, and I also had two small white spots on my nails. I didn't care about it at the time. I ate and slept normally. After more than three weeks, I cut my nails off. In fact, nails are a "barometer" of your living conditions. It's normal to have small fluctuations from time to time. You don't need to stick to a certain feature, let alone scare yourself by matching it with online posts. If you are really not sure, go to the dermatology department and get a regular account. It costs about ten yuan, which is much more reliable than searching for a long time by yourself, right?