Healthy nails should look pink on the nail bed and white when grown off the nail bed. Any other color could be a sign of a deficiency or disease. For instance, clear, pale nails can be a sign of anemia or poor nutrition. White nails, also known as Terry's nails, are a sign of kidney disease, liver disease, or diabetes.
What is the color of the nail in anemia? Anemia can cause a person's nail bed to become pale.
Pale nails can mean anemia or congestive heart failure. It is also common among those suffering from malnutrition.
Koilonychia is an abnormal shape of the fingernail. The nail has raised ridges and is thin and curved inward. This disorder is associated with iron deficiency anemia.
Nail Health & Diabetes
In some people with diabetes, the nails take on a yellowish hue and become brittle. This is often associated with the breakdown of sugar and its effect on the collagen in nails. In certain cases, this yellowing of nails can be a sign of a nail infection.
Blue nails occur because there is not enough oxygen in the blood. Blue nails may also occur if the circulatory system is not carrying the blood around the body as it should, resulting in poor circulation and a blue tinge.
Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, chronic coughing or wheezing, swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite, and others. Heart failure means the heart has failed to pump the way it should in order to circulate oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
Terry's nails is a type of nail discoloration. The nailbeds look “washed out,” except for a thin reddish-brown strip near the tip. Often, Terry's nails is a symptom of a chronic condition, such as liver failure or diabetes.
The tips of the fingers enlarge and the nails become extremely curved from front to back. Clubbed fingers is a symptom of disease, often of the heart or lungs which cause chronically low blood levels of oxygen.
Healthy nails should look pink on the nail bed and white when grown off the nail bed. Any other color could be a sign of a deficiency or disease. For instance, clear, pale nails can be a sign of anemia or poor nutrition. White nails, also known as Terry's nails, are a sign of kidney disease, liver disease, or diabetes.
The medical term for blue nail beds is cyanosis. Cyanosis can occur when there is not enough oxygen circulating in the bloodstream, or circulation is poor. Oxygenated blood is red, while blood depleted of oxygen has a blue hue.
The skin and nails of patients with diabetes tend to take on a yellow hue, probably due to metabolism of glucose which has become linked to protein. This hue is most evident in the nails, especially distally, but occasionally evident in the skin.
Did you know your nails can reveal clues to your overall health? A touch of white here, a rosy tinge there, or some rippling or bumps may be a sign of disease in the body. Problems in the liver, lungs, and heart can show up in your nails.
Changes in Nail Shape
Ripples on nails or pitted nails may be caused by a skin disorder, psoriasis, eczema, or arthritis. Nail clubbing is when a nail curves under at the tip of the finger. It could indicate heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lung disease, liver disease, thyroid disease, or HIV/AIDS.
White streaks, also called Muehrcke's nails,⁷ are common in people with kidney disease. Muehrcke's nails are white streaks that run parallel to the knuckles of the fingernail. They form when there isn't enough blood flow to the nail bed.
Acute liver failure can develop quickly in an otherwise healthy person, and it is life-threatening. If you or someone you know suddenly develops a yellowing of the eyes or skin; tenderness in the upper abdomen; or any unusual changes in mental state, personality or behavior, seek medical attention right away.
Signs and symptoms
However, as your liver loses its ability to function properly, you're likely to experience a loss of appetite, nausea and itchy skin. In the later stages, symptoms can include jaundice, vomiting blood, dark, tarry-looking stools, and a build-up of fluid in the legs (oedema) and abdomen (ascites).
Typical signs of heart failure include: Breathlessness or Shortness of Breath (Dyspnea) When the heart begins to fail, blood backs up in the veins attempting to carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart. As fluid pools in the lungs, it interferes with normal breathing.
2 Nail changes in vitamin B12 deficiency present as hyperpigmentation of nails like bluish discoloration of nails, blue-black pigmentation with dark longitudinal streaks, and longitudinal and reticulate darkened streaks. The nail pigmentation associated with B12 deficiency is more frequent in patients with dark skin.
This article therefore helps clinicians to find the right treatment of the 5 most common nail disorders (brittle nails, onycholysis, paronychia, psoriasis, and onychomycosis) and provides practical tips that might improve patients' compliance.
The color might also look grayish or dark purple. “Central cyanosis” is blueness that mainly affects the lips, tongue, and mouth. “Peripheral cyanosis” is blueness in the skin of the arms, legs, feet, hands, fingers and fingernail beds. Both of these kinds of cyanosis can be caused by COPD or by complications of COPD.