| If you see a widening band of color running up | | | | nail beads. Of 93 patients with fibromyalgia, 80 |
| and down your fingernail, you might want to see | | | | had nail pits and 45 had beads on their nail |
| a doctor right away. That colored band could be | | | | surfaces. |
| an early signal of a rapidly spreading skin cancer. | | | | In addition, 25 out of 30 patients with rheumatoid |
| You may want to become better acquainted with | | | | arthritis also had beads on their nails. Now let me |
| your fingernails and toenails. Those lowly parts | | | | share to you some of the most common signs |
| may serve as important early warning signs for | | | | that your nails can tell you with regards your |
| several serious ailments, including liver and kidney | | | | health. |
| failure, heart and blood vessel disorders, | | | | 1. Double white horizontal lines. This could be a sign |
| poisonings, various painful inflammations of the | | | | of liver disease or poor nutrition. |
| joints and muscles and a deadly form of skin | | | | 2. Spoon nails. The nail surface forms a cup or |
| cancer called melanoma. | | | | depression. May be a sign of iron deficiency or |
| Melanoma does appear in the nail unit. If you | | | | anemia. |
| happen to see a widening brownish or blackish | | | | 3. Yellow nails. Hard yellow nails may be a sign of |
| band running up and down the nail, especially in | | | | chronic lung disease like emphysema or chronic |
| person of middle age or older, a biopsy may be | | | | bronchitis, or it could be sinus trouble. |
| indicated. | | | | 4. Half-brown, half-normal nails. This could be sign |
| You have to get your nails carefully examined by | | | | of serious kidney trouble if the nail half nearest |
| a doctor every time you have a physical | | | | the knuckle is normal but the half toward the end |
| examination. Lines or changes in nail coloration | | | | of the nails is brownish. |
| may indicate disease or exposure to toxic | | | | 5. Club nails. This is the opposite of spoon nails, |
| substances in the home or workplace. Pits and | | | | the nail is raised abnormally high with steep side |
| beads on the nails may also provide clues to the | | | | curves. May be signal of heart disease, lung |
| presence of rheumatoid arthritis and two kinds of | | | | disease or thyroid problems. |
| muscular inflammations called fibromyalgia and | | | | Now those are just a few of the signs that your |
| myofascial syndromes. | | | | nails can tell you. Familiarize yourself of them and |
| In one study, out of 150 patients suffering from | | | | you might even save yourself or others from a |
| myofascial syndrome, 122 had nail pits and 76 had | | | | long-term serious disease in the future. |