Signs of nail health

The nail plate is smooth and tough, the nail surface is uniformly light pink, and the nail edge is clean and free of discomfort. There is no need to pursue strict standards such as "all 10 fingers have crescents" and "no vertical lines" as reported online.

A while ago, my best friend squatted on my sofa with her hands raised and sighed, saying that there were a lot of vertical lines on her nails. A search on Baidu told her that her liver was bad or she was going to suffer from premature aging. She was so scared that she drank wolfberry water for three days in a row. I took her to the dermatology department to see a doctor I knew well. The doctor took one look and said she was fine, "Isn't it normal to have vertical lines when you are over thirty? It's the same as having fine lines on your face. As long as they don't suddenly bulge, turn black, or become pitted, don't worry about them." Of course, there are different opinions. An old Chinese doctor I know mentioned that if vertical lines are particularly obvious for a long time, and you also experience frequent abdominal distension and poor digestion, it may be related to a weak spleen and stomach. Adjusting your diet and rest can improve it, and it is not a serious problem. There is actually no conflict between the two statements. The essence is that as long as it is not accompanied by other discomforts, there is no need to go online.

As for what people often say, "Light pink nails are healthy." In fact, they are talking about uniform light pink. You can find a healthy person and press his nails. After releasing it, it will change from pale to uniform light pink in 2-3 seconds. This shows that the peripheral blood circulation is good. If the entire nail has been white for a long time and does not turn pink after being pressed for a long time, then you should consider whether it is anemia. ； If it suddenly turns gray, yellow, and thick, it is most likely onychomycosis, which is what we often call onychomycosis, and it needs to be treated quickly. Oh, by the way, don’t worry about it. Last month, I had a regular customer at the nail salon I frequented. He wore dark burgundy nail polish for most of the year and never applied base coat. After removing his nails, his entire nail surface turned yellow like sunburned orange peels. He thought he had onychomycosis. He went to the hospital to check for a long time and found out the pigmentation. After stopping for two months, the manicure turned white.

Speaking of which, I have to mention the crescent moon that everyone is most confused about. Do some people always say that the more crescent moons, the bigger and healthier they are? My grandpa has only been able to see the crescent moon with his two thumbs his whole life. He is 87 this year and he can climb six floors more easily than I can. The current mainstream views are actually divided into two schools: Western medicine generally believes that crescents are new keratin cells on the methyl group. In some people, the methyl group grows far back, and the keratin has aged and turned white when it grows out. Naturally, the crescents cannot be seen. As long as the number and size of your crescents have not changed for a long time, it is normal whether it is 10 or 2. ； If all the crescent moons suddenly appear or retract in a short period of time, then you should be alert to whether there is a thyroid problem. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the condition of the crescent moon is linked to the body's constitution. For example, people with smaller and fewer crescent moons tend to have slower basal metabolism, are prone to coldness, and have poor digestion. This is not a serious illness and can be restored by adjusting their daily routine and diet. To put it bluntly, there is no need to impose a "10-finger crescent moon" KPI. Stability is more important than quantity.

There is another point that many people ignore: healthy nails are not as hard as possible, nor are they so soft that they cannot keep long nails. They are flexible - if you gently break off the tip of the nail, it will bend slightly and will not break with force, nor will it be as soft as a piece of plastic. I used to change my manicure every week for three months, and every time I polished the nail plate very thin. Later, my nails became so soft that I couldn't even remove the tabs of cans. I stopped doing manicure for two months and applied nail polish for two months before they recovered. In addition, when looking at health, you can’t just look at the nails themselves. The condition of the periungual nails is also very important: healthy nails will not have barbs growing around them, nor will they be inexplicably red, swollen or pus-filled. Oh, by the way, a reminder, if there are barbs, don’t tear them apart, just cut them off. If they are torn, you will easily get paronychia, which will cause you to suffer. Many nail salons like to cut the thin layer of skin at the root of your nails. In fact, it is the epithelium of the nail, which is used to block bacteria. If you cut it too much, it will easily lead to infection. Now when I do manicures, I ask the master not to touch that layer.

In fact, to put it bluntly, nails are the "barometer" of our body, but not every sign of trouble is a sign of serious illness. Most of the time, the small vertical lines and small color differences that you are troubled by are either caused by aging or self-made (such as doing manicures every day without protection). If there is a sudden deformation, discoloration, or pain, it is much more reliable to call a dermatology department directly than just guessing on Baidu.