What Can Your Child’s Nails Tell You About Their Health?

We often neglect our nails, but did you know they can divulge a lot about a person’s health? So, the next time you help clean or cut your child’s nails, give them a thorough check.

1. Leukonychia

Credits: ResearchGate

According to Paediatric Education, this disorder presents itself as white markings (often crescent-shaped) on the nails. While some doctors may attribute this to a deficiency in vitamins or minerals, leukonychia is more often caused by minor trauma. For example, biting, which is common in young children.

2. Beau’s Lines

Credits: Stanford Medicine 25

The Journal of Pediatrics describes this condition as “transverse grooves that run the nails from side to side and represent the periods of arrest in growth of nail plates”. What it means essentially is that your child could have been sick or undergone trauma that was severe enough to disrupt the growth of the nail. It is said that you are able to tell the severity of the illness or trauma according to the depth and width of the grooves that often occur mostly in the thumbs. Meanwhile, the Indian Dermatology Online Journal has stated that “the presence of Beau’s lines on all 20 nails is usually the result of systemic disease such as mumps, pneumonia, and coronary thrombosis.”

3. Onychomadesis

Credits: Batonrougemoms

Kristie Rivers, a pediatrician says that in this case, your child’s nails will shed – separating from the nail bed and peeling off. These are a sign of viral infections that can cause a high fever, such as measles, Kawasaki disease, and hand, foot, mouth disease.

4. Koilonychia

Credits: Know Your Doctor Cyprus

Also known as ‘spoon nails’, they appear as concave dents (hence, the name) and in a study observing the occurrence of this condition between kibbutz children (a community in Israel that is based on agriculture) and urban children, The International Journal of Dermatology noticed that it was more frequent in the former group. They deducted that it was probably due to trauma from walking around barefooted or water immersion. Kristie Rivers also mentions that it can appear in thumbs (which could be due to your child sucking his or her thumb) and may also be a sign of iron deficiency.

The post What Can Your Child’s Nails Tell You About Their Health? appeared first on Her Inspirasi.

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