We like to decorate our nails with costly paints and stickers. Even though we spend hours in spas and nail art salon for getting the perfect manicure, we do not really bother to understand the significance of our nail. For most of us, the nail is a body part that has to be decorated for making us look good. Physicians, however, suggest that we remove the nail paints and keep the nails bare sometimes. Nails are useful body part that helps in protecting the much softer tissues underneath.
The nails are made of keratin. Keratin is a type of protein, which we can find in our skin and hair as well. The color, texture of our nails and the marks on top of them can say a lot about our health.
It is possible to recognize severe diseases just by observing the bare nails. They are like a monitoring screen, which tells us about some very important health related facts. In the following, some of the sign language communicated by the nails has been deciphered.
Nails can tell you about thyroid problems:
Like most health disorders and chronic diseases thyroid related diseases also have some major symptoms. For example, people suffering from hyperthyroidism start losing weight and become thinner, while people who suddenly gain weight are often diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The nails can indicate change in thyroid levels especially in the case of hyperthyroidism. Due to hyperthyroidism, patients face a nail disease name Plummer’s Disease or Onycholysis.
If you keep your nails neat then the symptoms of Plummer’s Disease will be easy to distinguish. In this disease, the nails become detached from the nail bed at the tip or at the sides. As a result, dirt and bacteria accumulate beneath the nails where the gaps have formed. Accumulation of dirt and bacteria can lead to infection. People who contract this disease should consult a doctor and make sure to get to the root of the disease, which can be hyperthyroidism.
Nails can tell you about heart diseases:
Heart diseases are rampant these days due to lifestyle disorders. People generally check their blood pressure and level of cholesterol for determining the condition of their cardiovascular system but the nails can also give off numerous signs for indicating that something is wrong with your heart or related body parts.
Do not ignore spooned nails or nails that seem to have been peeled from the actual nail beds. This can be a sign that there is something terribly wrong with your heart. Another sign is red or reddish brown lines that appear beneath the nails. They may indicate a disease named vasculitis or infection in the heart valves. Blue tinged nails can also indicate severe cardiovascular problems.
Nails can tell you about melanoma:
All fear skin cancers and melanoma is one of the vilest of them all. There are some areas like the nose, face and ears that are more prone to getting skin cancers and other skin related diseases.
However, melanoma is also common and it is very difficult to treat. It often occurs beneath the nails. This type of melanoma is called acral lentiginous melanoma. The usual sign of this type of melanoma is dark lines underneath the nails.
Nails can tell you about malnutrition:
The deficiency of nutrients can be disclosed by the shape and color of nails. Pale nails indicate that your body lacks iron but spooned nails indicate that there is excess iron in your blood.
Nails can also indicate the deficiency of proteins, biotins and other vital nutrients.
Summary:
There are many different types of health disorders that we can understand from the shape and color of the nails. We should clean and trim nails before annual health checkups.