Nail disease can affect the health, strength, and appearance of fingernails and toenails.

The following are diseases that commonly affect the nails:

Onycholysis

What is it? it is a condition in which the nail separates from the skin beneath it. It may be caused by a nail injury, fungus, or psoriasis. The condition does not go away, and a person must wait until a new nail grows.

What causes it? Injury to the nail, reaction to medications, trauma (repetitive tapping or drumming of the fingernail), allergy to nail products, can be a symptom of nail fungus or psoriasis.

Treatment: Determining the cause of your onycholysis is the most important step. Once the cause is found, treating the underlying issue will help resolve it.

While it’s important to keep your nails short, aggressive clipping is not recommended. As the affected portion of the nail grows out, you will be able to clip off the lifted nail as the new nail comes in.

Onychotillomania

What is it? is a compulsive behavior in which a person picks constantly at the nails or tries to tear them off.

What causes it? Nail picking can be a symptom of anxiety or other mental disorders. Treatment: Find ways to stop picking

Treatment: Find ways to stop picking.

Paronychia

What is it? Paronychia is nail inflammation that may result from trauma, irritation or infection. It can affect fingernails or toenails.

What causes it? Most commonly, infectious paronychia results from a staph infection. Staphylococcus aureus bacteria cause staph infections. Other bacteria (such as Streptococcus pyogenes) can also cause the infection. Bacteria get into the skin through: cuts, broken skin, hangnails, ingrown nails, chemicals, trauma to the nailbed or eponychium.

Types:  Acute paronychia: Symptoms of acute paronychia appear over hours or a few days. The infection is only in the nail fold and doesn’t extend deeper inside the finger or toe. Symptoms go away with treatment and last less than six weeks.

Chronic paronychia: Symptoms develop more slowly than acute paronychia, and they usually last six weeks or longer. Several fingers or toes can be infected at once. A nail fungus (usually from a type of fungus called candida) may occur along with the bacterial infection. Candida is one of several types of fungi that cause toenail fungal infections.

Treatment: Most bacterial nail infections go away with antibiotics. These medications kill bacteria that cause infections.

Onychophagia

What is it? Is a compulsive behavior in which a person bites or chew their nails.

What causes it? Some mental disorders

Treatment: Find ways to avoid biting

Beau’s Lines

What is it? Beau’s lines are grooves or dents that run across your fingernails or toenails horizontally. They can affect all your nails or just a few, such as on your thumbs and big toes.

What causes it?

• Illness or severe stress interrupts your nail growth. If you become sick or experience high stress, your body temporarily directs its energy away from growing nails.
• Injuries damage your nail matrix (where nails start to grow).
• Long-term health problems interfere with blood flow to your nail matrix.
• Severe skin conditions damage your nail matrix.
• Vitamin or nutrient deficiencies interrupt your nail growth.

Illnesses that can cause it; Covid-19, Heart attack, high fever, measles, mumps, pneumonia, strep, diabetes, hypothyroidism, peripheral artery dieses, raynauds, eczema, psoriasis.

If you have a severe zinc deficiency or aren’t eating enough protein, you may experience Beau’s lines. Your nail growth usually returns to normal once you receive proper nutrition again.

Treatment: There isn’t a treatment for Beau’s lines. But treating the underlying cause can keep them from coming back once they grow out. Your healthcare provider may recommend you:

• Apply creams or moisturizers for eczema or psoriasis.
• Avoid manicures, artificial nails or harsh nail products.
• Keep blood sugar under control if you have diabetes.

Discuss treatment options with your healthcare provider if you have peripheral artery disease, including medications and surgery.

Onychogryphosis (Ram’s horn nails)

What is it? Onychogryphosis is a nail disease that causes one side of the nail to grow faster than the other. The nickname for this disease is ram’s horn nails because the nails are thick and curvy, like horns or claws. Onychogryphosis mostly affects the toes — specifically the big toes.

If you have onychogryphosis, your nails will look:

• yellow or brown
• unusually thick
• long (extending beyond the toe)
• curved

What causes it? Hand/foot trauma, fungal infection, psoriasis, peripheral vascular disease, Ichthyosis, tuberous sclerosis complex.

Treatment: Surgery is the only treatment option for onychogryphosis. The type and frequency of the surgery, however, is based on the cause of ram’s horn nails. If the condition is genetic, you may have to get the same surgery multiple times as the nails grow back. To permanently solve this problem, your doctor may suggest removing the affected nail plate.

Yellow Nail Syndrome

What is it? Yellow nail syndrome is a rare condition that affects your nails, lungs and limbs. People with yellow nail syndrome get yellow, curved nails that may thicken or fall off. They also may have respiratory symptoms, such as a chronic cough, and usually have swollen lower legs or ankles.

What causes it? Experts don’t know what causes yellow nail syndrome. But it may be linked to improper circulation, issues with lymphatic drainage or buildup of fluid around your lungs.

Treatment: Lymph drainage, vitamin E, corticosteroids, antibiotics.

Koilonychia (Spoon nails)

What is it? Koilonychia refers to soft nails that have a spoon-shaped dent in them. Often these “spoon nails” form gradually. In many people, the first sign of koilonychia is flattened nails. Then, eventually, an indentation forms. The indentation is deep enough to hold a drop of water on your nail bed.

What causes it? Medical conditions are often the cause for spoon nails. Conditions may be as follows

• Anemia
• Celiac disease
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Heart dieses
• Lupus

Other causes may be you may have spoon nails because of an injury or overexposure to petroleum products. For example, hairstylists may use petroleum products routinely for certain hair treatments.

Treatment: Healthcare providers treat the underlying cause of koilonychia. If you have an iron deficiency, changing your diet or taking supplements may correct and prevent spoon nails.

Nail Clubbing

What is it? Nail clubbing is a change in the appearance and structure of your fingernails or toenails that can occur as a symptom of an underlying health condition. If you have nail clubbing, your nails may:

• Feel soft and sponge-like.
• Feel warm to the touch.
• Form a rounded, bulging shape, giving the appearance of an upside-down spoon.
• Look red.
• Widen and wrap around the sides of your fingertips.

What causes it? Nail clubbing is most often associated with diseases of the heart and lungs, like lung cancer, lung infections, interstitial lung disease, cystic fibrosis or cardiovascular disease.

Treatment: treatment will vary based off the underlying cause.

Subungual Melanoma

What is it? skin cancer under your nail. It usually appears as a dark, vertical (top to bottom) streak on your nail.

Fungal Infections Onychomycosis (Greenies)

What is it? Onychomycosis, also called tinea unguium, is a fungal infection that affects either the fingernails or toenails. Fungal infections normally develop over time, so any immediate difference in the way your nail looks or feels may be too subtle to notice at first.

What Causes it? A fungal nail infection occurs from the overgrowth of fungi in, under, or on the nail. Fungi thrive in warm, moist environments, so this type of environment can cause them to naturally overpopulate. The same fungi that cause jock itch, athlete’s foot, and ringworm can cause nail infections, fungi that are already present in or on your body can cause nail infections

What does it look like? A fungal infection of the nail may affect part of the nail, the entire nail, or several nails.

Common signs of a fungal nail infection include:

• a distorted nail that may lift off from the nail bed
• an odor coming from the infected nail
• a brittle or thickened nail

Treatment: Over-the-counter products aren’t usually recommended to treat nail infections since they don’t provide reliable results. Instead, your doctor may prescribe an oral antifungal medication, such as:

• terbinafine (Lamisil)
• itraconazole (Sporanox)
• fluconazole (Diflucan)
• griseofulvin (Gris-PEG)

Your doctor may prescribe other antifungal treatments, such as antifungal nail lacquer or topical solutions. These treatments are brushed onto the nail in the same way that you’d apply nail polish