Healthy fingernails are not something to be taken for granted. Fingernails can become discolored or deformed. Fingernails can have grooves, and they can become soft and brittle. Diseases can be the cause when once healthy fingernails change. But fingernails also suffer from incorrect care and an unbalanced diet. In this article, you can read what fingernails reveal about your state of health.

Fingernails: A reflection of our health

Holistic therapists often use unconventional diagnostic procedures, such as iris diagnosis or nail diagnostics, to gain a comprehensive picture of the patient’s state of health.

Healthy fingernails have a smooth surface without grooves or ridges, a normal shine, a slightly pink color, a slight curve, a certain elasticity, and a normal nail moon.

Anything that differs significantly from this image of a healthy fingernail provides information about possible disorders or diseases in a person’s organism.

Depending on the type of disease, the nail can change in shape, color, and surface. The fingernail itself can also become diseased. It can be attacked by fungi or bacteria or damaged by chemicals.

Since fingernails grow slowly, they can also indicate previous illnesses in the body.

Nail diagnostics: What fingernails reveal

Healthy fingernails are strong, slightly curved, flexible, and even. Sick nails, on the other hand, grow slowly, can have an abnormal surface, shape, and structure, and are prone to splintering or breaking off.

Depending on their appearance, altered fingernails are given special names:

• Thickened and curved nails, for example, are called claw nails. They indicate circulatory problems and nerve damage.
• Plateau nails are fingernails that are flat in the middle but slope down at the sides. Causes include gastrointestinal problems and impaired blood formation.
• Watch glass nails, on the other hand, are curved upwards and indicate diseases of the liver and lungs, but also iron deficiency.
• In spoon nails, the nail plate is sunken like a spoon and bent upwards at the front. They can be caused by iron deficiency, vitamin C deficiency, or a thyroid or metabolic disorder.
• Pitted nails have small pits and are a sign of psoriasis.
• Longitudinal ridges can be a harmless sign of aging or an indication of iron or biotin deficiency. Poisoning or disorders of the liver, kidneys, or intestines can also be the cause of longitudinal ridges.
• Transverse grooves are usually due to a slowing of growth during an illness (e.g., flu).

However, fingernails can change not only in terms of their shape but also in terms of color, and so the color of the fingernails can also reveal a lot about a person’s state of health.

Fingernails that change color

Healthy fingernails shine pink. If there is a change in this color, it can indicate various health problems.

White spots on the fingernails

White dots or spots are particularly common on fingernails. Even today, some people claim that this phenomenon indicates a calcium, zinc, or magnesium deficiency, but this is not the case. In reality, it is just tiny air pockets in the nail plate that are caused by impacts or small injuries.

Therefore, make sure you do a careful, i.e., very gentle, manicure. Otherwise, if the nail bed is scratched a little—e.g., when removing the cuticles—then this can very quickly lead to the aforementioned white spots. The habit of some people of picking at their cuticles when nervous can also ultimately result in white spots on the nails.

Red, shining fingernails

If the nails are very red, this is the result of dilated blood vessels in the nail bed and is a sign of high blood pressure. It could also be a sign of cancer. Red spots under the nail cover often appear in people who suffer from psoriasis; pale red fingernails, on the other hand, indicate anemia.

Bluish fingernails

Bluish nails indicate circulatory disorders, while very blue nails indicate a chronic heart or lung disease.

White-spotted fingernails

Irregularly white fingernails often occur in cases of psoriasis, but contact with chemical agents (e.g., nitric acid) can also be the cause. White horizontal stripes can also indicate toxic substances but also occur in cases of radiation damage or fungal infections. Milky white nails are called “frosted glass nails” and are an indication of liver cirrhosis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), or stomach ulcers.

Orange fingernails

Orange-colored nails can be a sign of chemical poisoning or the result of poor blood circulation and indicate the onset of nerve weakness.

Green shimmering fingernails

If the nails turn green, this is the body’s cry for help; the triggers include infections and pus pockets. If the nail bed shimmers green, it is usually caused by toxins from bacteria, plants, or animals.

Black fingernails

A black-gray color indicates poisoning by metals or medication, while a deep black color suggests that it could be a melanoma. It should not be forgotten that nails can also turn blue or black due to external influences (e.g., impact or bruising).

Yellow fingernails

Light yellow fingernails—so say some unsubstantiated sources—can indicate depression, while deep yellow nails can be a sign of gallbladder and liver diseases (e.g., jaundice). Some medications can also cause a yellow color, such as tetracyclines (antibiotics). Yellowish-brownish discoloration can be a sign of nail fungus, which brings us to the most common and well-known nail disease. Of course, yellow fingernails are not always present with nail fungus, and of course nail fungus brings with it other symptoms.

Nail fungus is not uncommon

In Europe, more than 10 percent of all individuals suffer from nail fungus. Around 90 percent of nail fungus infections affect the toenails. Fortunately, only around 10 percent affect the fingernails.

This is because fingernails grow twice as fast as toenails. The slower the nail grows, the more susceptible it is to nail fungus. Since nails grow more slowly in old age, seniors are particularly at risk: 50 percent of those over 60 are affected.

Nail fungus is primarily caused by fungi that feed on the keratin in nails. They thrive in warm, moist environments, which is why saunas, swimming pools, showers, and public changing rooms are their preferred “hunting grounds”.

The risk factors for nail fungus on the fingernails include:

• Artificial fingernails
• Minor skin injuries
• diseases (e.g. athlete’s foot, diabetes mellitus, psoriasis, circulatory disorders)
• Unbalanced diet (e.g. vitamin deficiency, obesity)
• Medications (e.g. antibiotics reduce the health-promoting bacteria and thus weaken the immune system, while the estrogens in the contraceptive pill promote fungal infections)

If a maximum of half of a nail is affected, local treatment is usually sufficient, and natural medicine can easily be used. The preferred remedies for nail fungus—whether on the fingernails or toenails—include tea tree oil, cold-pressed olive oil, and apple cider vinegar.

Organic coconut oil is also a good tip for treating nail fungus: both the lauric acid and caprylic acid it contains kill the fungi.  Science has even shown that essential lavender oil has a strong effect on nail fungus.