What Your Nails Say About Your Health

In most cases, yellow nails indicate a fungal infection. If not treated in time, this condition can worsen, and your nails can even acquire a greenish tint and become crumbly. In rare cases, yellow nails can indicate a more serious condition such as severe thyroid disease, lung disease, diabetes or psoriasis.

How to get rid of yellow nails

It is important to be aware that home remedies are not always effective. See your physician if home remedies aren’t helpful in eliminating discoloration.

Baking soda

Fungus can only grow in an environment where the pH level is acidic. Soaking your feet or toes in hot water mixed with baking soda may prevent the fungus from spreading. Baking soda creates an alkaline environment and, over the course of a few soaks, may leave your nails much clearer

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide have been proven to help whiten teeth effectively when combined with baking soda, and it’s a common ingredient in whitening toothpaste. Hydrogen peroxide has “oxidizing” abilities, which makes it a stain remover. This means it’s a great treatment for nails stained by product use. The dye from dark nail polish can seep into the nail enamel, leaving them permanently stained. Hydrogen peroxide goes deep into the nail and lightens the coloring, similar to the way that bleach strips the color out of hair. Mixing hydrogen peroxide into warm water and soaking the nails may improve the appearance of stains, and adding baking soda will make it even more effective.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is known to help cells retain moisture and look healthier. Your skin, hair, and nails all take on an appearance of vitality when you have plenty of vitamin E. Vitamin E has also been as a successful treatment for yellow nail syndrome. Yellow nail syndrome is exactly what you’d think — a condition that causes nails to become discolored, ridged, and thick. Since vitamin E stimulates healthy nail growth, it can be applied topically or taken orally to help your nails grow in quickly.Prescription drugs

White nails with a strip of pink at the top (“Terry’s nails”) can be a sign of congestive heart failure, kidney failure, diabetes, and some liver problems such as hepatitis or cirrhosis.

Dark red nails may indicate that you have heart disease. If the redness extends to the sides of your nails and cuticles, this might be a sign of an autoimmune disease called lupus.

Brittle, split nails are usually linked to hypothyroidism, a condition in which your thyroid works too slowly.

Vertical ridges are usually a normal sign of aging, just like wrinkles on your face. But if they become prominent at a young age, this might mean that you’re suffering from a vitamin B12 or magnesium deficiency.

Nail pitting may indicate skin problems such as psoriasis, eczema, and dermatitis. It can also be an early sign of connective tissue disorders such as inflammatory arthritis, a disease that affects your joints.

Spoon nails (“koilonychia”), a phenomenon whereby your nails look like a spoon with raised ridges and a scooped-out depression, may be a sign of hemochromatosis.

Nail clubbing appears when your fingertips become enlarged and your nails curve downward. This kind of nail growth can be a sign of low oxygen in your blood, which is usually caused by lung disease.

Dark vertical lines extending from the cuticle to the tip of the nail may be a sign of subungual melanoma, a really dangerous type of skin cancer.

Nails with a bluish tint can mean the body isn’t getting enough oxygen. This could indicate a lung problem, such as emphysema. Some heart problems can be associated with bluish nails.

Although most people believe that white stripes (“Mees’ lines”) signal a calcium deficiency, that’s not actually true. Those white discolorations on your nails usually indicate an imbalanced diet lacking in protein.