Lines on Your Fingernails: What They Might Reveal About Your Health
Nail lines are common and usually harmless, but certain patterns can sometimes provide clues about your health. The type of line matters.
- Vertical ridges: These run from the cuticle toward the tip and become more common with age. They’re usually normal.
- Horizontal grooves (Beau’s lines): These can occur when nail growth is temporarily interrupted, sometimes after a significant illness, high fever, major stress, injury, or certain treatments.
- A single groove or ridge: Often related to local trauma, such as hitting or damaging the nail or cuticle.
- White lines or spots: Most are caused by minor nail trauma and aren’t necessarily evidence of a vitamin deficiency.
- Dark or brown lines: These can have many causes, including pigmentation or injury. A new or changing dark streak on one nail should be examined by a healthcare professional because, rarely, it can be a sign of melanoma.
When should you get your nails checked?
See a healthcare professional if a nail change is new, persistent, rapidly changing, painful, associated with swelling, or affecting only one nail without an obvious injury.
Nails can sometimes offer clues, but they cannot diagnose a disease on their own. If you’re concerned about a particular line, a photo can help show what type of nail change you’re dealing with.
