Healthy Nail Color

The core color of healthy nails is a uniform light pink, with a smooth and shiny surface. The nail half-moon attached to the nail root is translucent milky white, with no spots, vertical lines of different colors or layered depressions - this is currently a generally recognized healthy nail color standard in the field of dermatology.

To put it bluntly, the color is actually revealed by the capillaries under the nail bed. It is like looking at pink velvet through a layer of translucent frosted glass. The bright one is in good condition. In the past two years, I helped a friend who opened a nail salon to sort out customer consultation records for half a year. As soon as six of the ten people sat down, they raised their hands and asked, "Is it because my nails are so white that I am anemic?" "Is it because my nails have only two nails for half a month? Is it because my kidneys are bad?" Many people compare back and forth with the color cards on the Internet, and they worry for a long time if they are even one degree off. In fact, it is really unnecessary.

Let’s talk about the most quarrelsome issue of nail polish. Now both schools of thought actually have basis: according to Western medicine, the nail polish is essentially a new nail plate that has not yet been completely cutinized. If your nails naturally grow farther back, or your nail metabolism is slow, it is normal for the nail polish to be less exposed or even invisible at all. As long as the number and size of your nail polish does not suddenly increase or decrease in a month or two, there is no need to panic.； However, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the nail half moon is related to the circulation of Qi and blood. If there are originally 8 nail half moons and suddenly only 2 are left, and it is also accompanied by cold hands and feet and easy fatigue, it can also be used as a reference for regulating the body. In fact, the two schools do not conflict. They just look at the problem from different dimensions.

If you really want to judge whether the color is normal or not, the key is to eliminate external causes first. The most exaggerated case I have ever encountered was a little girl in the second year of high school who came crying with white nails and said that she searched Baidu and thought it was leukemia. After asking for a long time, she had been eating instant noodles every day to prepare for the exam for three months. She went to check and found out that she had mild iron deficiency anemia. After she went back and ate some spinach and lean beef every day, her nails turned pink in less than a month. There is also an elder brother who runs cross-country races all year round. His nail color is one degree redder than the standard color. His annual physical examination is normal. The doctor said that his blood circulation is better than ordinary people, his nail bed is congested, and he is in a good condition by nature. He is not "getting angry" at all. Also, I had extensions on my nails two years ago. After the removal, my nails were shockingly white. I thought something was wrong. The dermatologist laughed at me and said that the nail surface was polished too thin and the color of the nail bed could not show through. It recovered after two weeks. It was just a waste of worry.

If there is an abnormal color, don't mess with it. For example, the edges of the nails slowly turn gray and yellow, and become thicker. Don't first think about whether there is something wrong with the internal organs. It is most likely onychomycosis. Go to the drugstore and prescribe antifungal medicine and apply it to most of the cases. My aunt thought her yellow nails were due to liver disease. After checking, her liver function was normal. She was infected with onychomycosis while swimming in a public swimming pool a while ago, and she was cured after applying the medicine for a month. If your nails are bruised from the cold when you go out without gloves in the winter, and then recover within ten minutes after entering the house, it is a temperature problem, so don’t panic. However, if your nails are bruised all year round, and you still feel chest tightness and breathlessness, then you really should check your cardiopulmonary function. At this time, your nails are just a kind reminder.

Oh, by the way, there are also the little white spots on nails that many people are concerned about. The Internet sometimes talks about calcium deficiency and sometimes parasites. In fact, 90% of the cases are caused by you accidentally hitting the root of the nail before. The nail matrix is ​​slightly damaged and a white spot grows out. It disappears when the nail grows and is cut off. It has nothing to do with calcium deficiency.

To put it bluntly, nails are a "barometer" of health, not an accurate tester. People with different skin colors and living habits have slight differences in color, so there is no need to stick to a strict standard. I met a girl a few days ago who said she had faint vertical lines on her nails. After half a month of checking, she thought she was going to be seriously ill. When I finally asked her about it, she stayed up late for three weeks in a row to work on a project. After adjusting her schedule for a week, most of the vertical lines faded away. If you find that the color has suddenly changed, first think about whether you have had a manicure recently, whether you have been bumped, or whether you have dyed anything with color. If you rule out these things that are not right, go directly to the hospital to see a dermatology department. It is much more reliable than guessing based on online posts.