Photo by [Alvimann] morgueFile
Fingernails are something we all have, hopefully anyway. They are meant to protect your fingers from rough everyday activities.
Fingernails have also be adopted as useful tools over the ages for prying and scraping things. And as you all have probably figured out, they work perfectly for getting that prize out of your nose when nothing else will. For those of you worried about stretching out your nose when digging for that prize, check out my post Picking Your Nose Will Make it Bigger to learn everything you need to about this common myth.
White Spots on Your Fingernails
Getting back to the real reason for this post, fingernails and those crazy little white spots or specks that occasionally show up on them. Lots of things can potentially cause these white spots from forming such as certain diseases. But for this post we’re going to assume none of you have such diseases, and if you did, you would probably already be aware that white spots on your fingernails were a byproduct of such.
Not having enough zinc in your diet is a common denominator to these mysterious white spots, but not always the case.
Normally having white spots on your fingernails is caused from an air bubble that has become trapped underneath your nail. Or it could be caused from the proteins not forming correctly.
These white spots have also been known to pop up when damage has been done to your fingernails. Things like smashing your finger tip in a door or in between something. Or if you’ve ever snagged your nail on the edge of something and bent it backwards, then I know you’ve seen one of these white spots. Just thinking about doing that makes my stomach turn, OUCH! If you can imagine what happens to a piece of stiff plastic when you bend and crease it, then this is the same basic principal as bending back your fingernail and seeing the white line.
Medical Concerns with White Spots in Your Fingernails
Finding white spots on your fingernails is nothing to be scared of. But I will say that they are more common in younger folks than in adults. I don’t know if this is just because younger folks hands go through more abuse while playing and such or if maybe their bodies haven’t adjusted to the zinc levels or proteins like adults have. But either way it’s true.
Normally these white spots are nothing to worry about and in due time they will either grow out and be clipped away, or bitten off depending on the person. They have also been known to just disappear at some point without knowing when or how.
But one thing is for certain, if your whole fingernail has turned white, then there may be a more serious problem, such as the diseases we spoke briefly on earlier. If this is the case, then I would recommend seeing your doctor right away to have some tests ran.
So for those of you wondering where these white spots on your fingernails come from or if there is any danger to them, I hope I’ve answered your concerns. But I am no doctor, so keep that in mind when trying to self diagnose any condition. Doctors are there for a reason.
For more interesting information on Fingernails, check out Why Do Fingernails Grow Faster than Toenails.
Have you been afflicted with white spots on your fingernails? Tell us all about it in the comments below.
