All Health’s Breaking Loose:A Real Nail Biter?

The next time you want to know how someone is feeling, instead of throwing out an overly used and insincere “How are you” “How ya doin” or sometimes when I’m really interested (not) I’ll use “How the heck are you,” cut to the chase and glance down at their nails for the answer. Your finger and toenails can put your personal information “out” there. For example, with the growth rate of approximately 0.1 mm every day (or maybe 1 cm every 100 days is easier to get your head around) your grooming skills are immediately visible, especially now since nails grow faster in the summer. They also grow faster on your right hand if you are a right-handed person and on your left hand if you’re a lefty. Men’s nails grow faster than women’s nails and kids grow faster than adults. So get the clippers out accordingly.

Your nails also give important health information about you. Look down at your hands, here’s what you’ve got; Nail plates, the part you see or what you call your nails; Nail beds, or the skin beneath the nail plates; Cuticles, or the tissue that curves around the base of the nail and overlaps slightly; Nail folds, or the skin that supports and frames the nail on three sides; The lunula, the whitish half-moon shape at the base of your nails, and the Matrix, (not where Keanu Reeves hangs his hat, great film though) the hidden part of the nail unit, under the cuticle. As new cells grow in the matrix, the old cells are pushed out forming what you see as your nail. The nails are composed mostly of keratin, a hardened protein also in skin and hair. Since shapes and textures can be genetic, your hands may resemble your mother’s hands.

The color and texture of your nails can be a warning sign to underlying medical conditions because your fingernails are produced by living skin cells in your fingers. A major illness will cause a deep horizontal groove to form in the nail plate. White or pale nails may indicate liver disease or anemia. Red cuticles may indicate lupus while thick, yellow, slow growing nails may indicate lung problems or Emphysema. Redness under the nail sometimes accompanies heart disease and brownish nails may indicate kidney problems. Yellow or green discoloration may result from a respiratory condition, such as chronic bronchitis and extremely brittle or split nails may indicate an under active thyroid. Paramedics often use fingernail beds as an indicator of tissue perfusion when checking an individual who may be in shock. They gently press and release the fingernail bed which briefly turns the nail white. If it does not return to a pink color within 1 or 2 seconds, shock may be indicated.

The other day, when someone asked where I was going, I replied, “to get a pedicure.” Her response was, “How nice to get pampered.” I was bothered by this as I consider it a regular part of any good grooming routine. If you can be calm and relaxed (maybe that’s what she meant by pampered) during your pedicure or manicure, wonderful — we should find those moments throughout the day wherever we can. But pedicures are necessary for the removal of dead skin and calluses from the feet. Callus build up limits the mobility of the feet and over time, may compromise your balance. Every toe on each of your feet needs its full range of motion to enhance your grace and agility. A pedicure keeps feet limber. It also increases circulation, which reduces spider veins and calms the “barking dogs” (translation; it just feels good). Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

Since none of us aspire to compete with Shridhar Chillal and hold the world record for the longest fingernails, (he hasn’t cut them since 1958) then it is a good idea to look down occasionally and take care of the hands that represent you. In closing I have to quote a wise old man who said to me as a child. “Never point an un-manicured finger at someone else. When you do, you have three pointing back at you.”

Love and health, Loa