How to diagnose diseases from nails?

Nails are keratinous shells that grow at the ends of human limbs. They usually grow on fingers and cuticle ends, and are of great help to people's mobility. Although nails are keratinous objects, they grow in areas where nerve endings are most developed. Therefore, the condition of nails is a good indicator of physical illness. Let's take a look at how to identify diseases from nails?

From the color of nails:

1. Nails turn white. Acute conditions include blood loss and shock. Chronic conditions include anemia, hookworm disease, gastrointestinal bleeding, late-stage tuberculosis, cor pulmonale, etc. If the nails become as white as frosted glass, it is a characteristic of liver cirrhosis.

2. Nails become white, thin and soft, which is often seen in chronic wasting diseases.

3. Yellow nails are caused by a lack of vitamin E. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it is mostly caused by damp heat fumigation, and is seen in hypothyroidism, carotenemia, nephrotic syndrome, etc.

4. When the nails turn gray, it is a sign of onychomycosis. In the early stage, there will be itching around the nails, and then the nails will become deformed, lose their luster and become grayish white.

5. Purple nails with small red thorns are caused by lack of oxygen and indicate heart and lung disease.

6. If the nails are half red and half white (commonly known as yin-yang nails), it means poor kidney function.

7. White spots or floc-like white spots on the nails may indicate zinc deficiency, gastrointestinal disease, or anemia; the appearance of black spots or blue spots is a sign of poisoning.

8. Erythema appears around the nails, which is more common in patients with lupus erythematosus and dermatomyositis.

9. If the lunula of the nail is blue, it indicates poor peripheral circulation.

10. If the lunula is obviously red, it is a sign of heart failure; if the lunula is obvious, the intestinal absorption is good.

11. Those with no lunula or a narrow one have poor digestive ability.

For those who do manicures for a long time, don’t forget to give your nails a break every once in a while to let their true appearance show.