Listen to Your Hands

When your good or bad health gets under your fingernails.

You may not know it, but you can tell a lot about your overall health just by looking at your fingernails. The subtle variations in color or texture on your nails may not seem like anything important to you, but these imperfections may very well give the trained eye a clue as to what's going on inside your body. Initial symptoms of health conditions ranging from lung disease to hepatitis may show themselves in the color or shape of your nails. Additionally, if your nails begin to change in appearance, it could be the result of a fungus infection or indicate lupus, anemia, or another systematic disease.

But don't freak out just yet. Keep reading to find out whether there is any health knowledge tucked under your nails.

Healthy or Not?

Perfectly healthy fingernails are smooth. They have no grooves, ridges, discoloration, or spots. Imperfect nails look - well, imperfect. Thankfully, many nail abnormalities are normal and harmless. But that doesn't mean you can completely let your guard, as some nail issues may be indications of a more serious medical problem.

What connections can be made between your nails and your overall health? Check out the chart below to learn about more than one dozen possible connections between the appearance of your fingernails and serious health conditions.

Fingernail Appearance	Possible Medical Condition
Yellow-colored, thick, slow-growing	Lung disease, emphysema
Dark lines showing under the nail	Melanoma
Yellow-colored with blush at base	Diabetes
White-colored nails	Liver diseases, hepatitis
Red-colored nail bed	Heart disease
Half-pink, half-white nails	Kidney disease
White or pale nail bed	Anemia
Rippling, splitting, or pitting (small depressions)	Psoriasis, Reiter's syndrome, alopecia areata
Clubbing (extra tissue at the ends of fingers, nail curves over fingertips, or the nail is inverted)	Lung disease, low oxygen, inflammatory bowel disease, liver disease, cardiovascular disease, AIDS
Irregular red-colored lines at bottom of the nail	Lupus, connective tissue disease
Bluish tint	Lung condition, lack of oxygen
Spoon nails (thin, soft, concave nail bed)	Anemia, liver conditions, heart disease, hypothyroidism
Persistent nail picking or biting	Obsessive-compulsive disorders
Brittle, dry, easily crack	Thyroid disease
Terry's nails (dark band on tip of nail)	Liver disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure
Beau's lines (indentations running across the nail)	Diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, high fever illnesses, zinc deficiency

Warning Signs

If you notice your nails changing over time or if they appear to have any of the characteristics listed above, don't wait for things to get worse. Seek medical attention as soon as possible. While fingernail changes are rarely the first warning sign for disease, they may be an important piece to the diagnostic puzzle. If anything is suspected, your doctor may refer you to a dermatologist who is trained in deciphering between harmless or more serious nail conditions.

And don't fear going to the dermatologist. Because while nail issues can indicate something serious, many normal fingernail disorders are caused by nutritional deficiencies, injuries, or mere fungal infections that cause your nails to peel, crack, and change texture and color. Often, these infections can be treated with lifestyle modifications or prescription antifungal medications.

Not Universal

While nail issues can give you an idea of your overall health, they don't have the final say. In fact, health problems can't be diagnosed solely on the condition of your fingernails and rarely are nail changes the first warning sign of a serious illness.

You should also note that while your nails may have a certain appearance, this appearance doesn't necessarily mean you have the corresponding health problem. The opposite is also true, as everyone who has a certain disease will not necessarily have corresponding nail appearance.

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