Star Nails are essentially a "miniature barometer" of human health. They can not only reflect local periungual damage and daily nutritional status, but also indicate systemic metabolism, immunity and even tumor-related problems. However, they must not be directly equated with a certain disease. The relevant interpretation must be based on the actual situation.
I have been in clinical dermatology for 7 years, and I have seen too many cases where minor nail problems were magnified into terminal illnesses, and I have also seen cases where people with underlying diseases did not pay attention to the signs of nails and delayed intervention. Not long ago, I met a 22-year-old girl who was taking postgraduate entrance exams. She slept less than 5 hours a day for 3 months in a row, and her ten fingernails were covered with vertical lines. She checked online and said she had kidney failure. She came to register crying, but she had her blood drawn and a full physical examination, and she found nothing wrong. Yes, the energy and oxygen supply of the nail matrix during that period was insufficient, and the nails that grew out were not smooth. I gave her some advice on her daily routine and diet, and asked her to sleep for 8 hours a day and eat more lean meat and eggs. When she came back for a follow-up visit in a month, most of the vertical lines were basically gone.
Speaking of this, some people may want to ask, are the claims about nails corresponding to diseases posted on the Internet all false? Not entirely. Take the most controversial crescent issue as an example. The basis for judgment in different fields is indeed different. In clinical Chinese medicine, the number, size, and color of crescents are used as reference indicators for the state of qi and blood. If the number of crescents suddenly drops from 8 to 2 in a short period of time, accompanied by dizziness and cold hands and feet, most of them indicate a deficiency of qi and blood. Adjusting your work and rest to replenish qi and blood will usually bring it back slowly. ； However, Western medicine research is more inclined to believe that the crescent itself is the "exposed part" of the nail matrix. Some people are born with the nail matrix growing farther back, and the newly grown nails have long been keratinized before being exposed. Naturally, the crescent is not visible. As long as there is no obvious change in the short term, it is completely normal even if only the thumb has a crescent, and there is no need to worry about it.
Oh, by the way, there are also the little white spots on nails that people often ask about. They are really not caused by roundworms in the stomach. Most of them are caused by accidentally bumping your nails some time ago or staying up late at night.
But not all nail abnormalities can be ignored. There used to be an old man in his 60s. The nail on his right big toe turned gray and thick for no reason. He tried to treat the onychomycosis on his own for more than a year, but it was not cured. Finally, he came to our clinic for a checkup and found out that the problem was caused by poor long-term blood sugar control. The microcirculation around the nails was blocked, and the nails did not get enough nutrition. After adjusting the blood sugar, he applied some circulation-promoting ointment, and his nails slowly grew back to normal pink nails in three months. There are also those black vertical lines that suddenly grow out. If the width exceeds 3mm, the border is still fuzzy, and even the skin around the nail is black. Don’t take it seriously, and check for the possibility of nail matrix melanoma as soon as possible. This kind of early detection and early treatment has a much better prognosis, but it is easy to cause problems if it is delayed.
In fact, nails are both simple and complicated. Just pay more attention and observe whether there are any sudden changes. Don’t scare yourself by pointing to online posts for minor problems, and don’t ignore obvious abnormalities and ignore them. After all, nails as small as half a centimeter contain a lot of body signals.
