Understanding What Changes in Your Nails Can Mean

Nails can often indicate health problems.

A healthy diet and hydrating the nails will certainly help prevent them from turning weak and brittle. However, there are other changes that can happen to your nails, which indicate that something else is going on in your body than needs attention.  What I am about to share with you is not a diagnosis, only some warning signs to look for just in case you are wondering what those changes might mean.

For example, if your nails suddenly have been looking oddly white lately, then you could possibly be anemic. Nails that suddenly become weaker and develop a concave shape along with raised ridges might be related to an iron deficiency as well.  Such a ghostly nail color could also point to a liver problem such as cirrhosis of the liver.  


Nails that have a blue cast to them could mean something is not right with the lungs or the heart due to the inefficient way oxygen is circulating through your system.  

Then again, nails that have a yellow tinge with some pink at the base may be due to diabetes.  

Have you ever noticed any redness beneath the cuticle?  This could be from an underlying infection.

If your nails are very rounded with curved ends, this could indicate a shortage of B-vitamins, particularly B-12. 

Those white lines in the nails usually are caused by not enough protein in your diet.  

Any darkness you see beneath the nail is something that shouldn’t be ignored.  Of course, you can shrug it off if you were gardening or doing some dirty work to explain it.  However, it the blackness remains make sure to see your dermatologist because it could be melanoma.

These are only some of the things that you might see to explain why your nails are disappointing you. Hopefully, the information will clue you in so that you have a place to start to get the beauty of your nails and health back.