Table of contents:
- What causes grooves on the nails?
- What are the symptoms when the nails become indented?
- How to deal with this condition?
Like other parts of the body, nails need to be cared for and kept healthy. The appearance of changes to your nails can be a clue that something is wrong with your body. Especially if the surface of the nail suddenly has grooves or holes, whether it's still fairly shallow or even deep enough. So, what causes this grooved nail and can it be treated?
What causes grooves on the nails?
One of the conditions of indentation in the nails occurs due to nail psoriasis. This is evidenced by a study from the Indian Journal of Dermatology in 2013. The results found that about 34 percent of people who experience mild psoriasis also have curved nails.
Nail psoriasis will usually appear when you have had previous skin psoriasis. Skin affected by psoriasis is characterized by inflammation, redness, and scaly skin.
The severity of skin psoriasis in each person can vary, including psoriasis of the nails. Starting from appearing small cuts or indentations that are almost invisible, until they can grow bigger and even damage the nails.
Not only because of nail psoriasis, grooved nails can also be caused by:
- Connective tissue disorders, eg Reiter's Syndrome or reactive arthritis, and osteoarthritis.
- Autoimmune diseases, eg alopecia areata, sarcoidosis and pemphigus vulgaris.
- A central nervous system disorder (incontinentia pigmenti), which affects the hair, skin, nails, teeth, and the central nervous system.
- Atopic dermatitis and contact dermatitis.
What are the symptoms when the nails become indented?
The most obvious sign when the nail is grooved is the appearance of a small hole on the surface of the nail or foot. The shape and structure of the indentation is usually erratic, can be shallow enough, deep, even to cause so many indentations that the nail surface looks irregular.
Pay attention to some of the distinctive signs that appear when the nails are curved, namely:
- Change in nail shape
- Nail thickening
- Change in nail color
- Small or large indentations or holes appear
This grooved nail condition can occur for many reasons. If it is caused by nail psoriasis, which is already classified as severe, the nails can be crushed and damaged.
Not infrequently, nail psoriasis can cause your nails to fall off or fall off, causing the skin underneath to become infected.
How to deal with this condition?
Actually, the condition of the nail surface that is notched or perforated should always be treated as long as it is still relatively mild. However, do not delay to treat it if it turns out that the indentation in the nail is getting deeper, worse, causing discomfort.
Curved nails are quite difficult to treat, but you can try to restore them by applying topical steroids, salicylic acid, calcipotriol, or tazarotene, to the affected nail surface. It is important to remember that the healing and regeneration process of nails takes a long time.
Therefore, it takes extra patience until the nail condition returns to normal. Talk to your doctor about the best treatment for your condition. The doctor will usually suggest one of several treatment options for curvy nails, such as:
- Anti-fungal treatment, is needed when the indentation in the nails is also caused by a fungal infection.
- Corticosteoride injection into nail. This one treatment is considered to be quite effective, especially when used in conjunction with topical steroid drugs.
- Surgery to remove or remove damaged nails. The goal is that the new nail tissue can grow back.
Always try to maintain and care for all your fingernails and toenails, both those that are problematic and those that are not. Tell your doctor about any complaints you feel. Because sometimes, changes to the nails require different treatment.
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