NOTE: This might be seen as a medical question, though I think of it more as a cosmetic one, but mods please move the thread if necessary.
I have a weird messed up fingernail. Instead of growing in a gentle curve, is lumpy. It’s thin and layers of it often peel off. It’s weak and frequently splits down the middle.
For years and years it’s been a little oddball, but it alternated slight weirdness with growing in normally. Now it seems to be stuck in a bad mode and maybe getting worse.
What can I do to encourage it to grow in normally? Would putting on a false fingernail help? I’m a man who does not wear any cosmetics or jewelry, so if that’s an answer, can it be done discreetly?
Look up “Nail (anatomy)” at Wikipedia, and look under “3. Clinical significance.” It lists a bunch of medical problems that can occur with fingernails and provides links over to separate pages for each disorder.
Since your general health is good, and your other 9 /19 nails are fine,
this is a problem that is only in the end of THAT one finger.
That would mean its an infection or growth problem.
If Infection, Proximal (white) subungual onychomycosis… , treatable.
If growth problem, well that would take rather an expert to exam your finger carefully to find the cause…
A possible treatment to keep the finger looking sanitary, rather than infectious and smelly, is to remove the nail , so as to not grow any nail there… Grow skin there and have a finger with no nail.
Thank you. It does now appear infected at all, no redness swelling or pus, I’ve had an infected hangnail before so I know what that’s like. I suppose it is a growth problem and maybe I will have to consult a professional of some sort–I just don’t know whether it should be a doctor or a manicurist.
I had my thumb smashed in the door of a car when I was a kid, and the nail has never grown correctly. Many of the same symptoms apply - it is not perfectly flat, some of the layers separate and as a kid, it it would split down the middle so bad, it would tear my cuticles and bleed. My cuticles are pretty well scarred now too. In fact, the whole tip of my thumb is distinctly not normal.
Other than some minor discomfort and the cosmetic issues, no real problems in my life. A doctor looked at it once and shrugged and said that sometimes things will just heal wrong.
Some nail infections don’t show up as red and pus-filled. Wrinkled and discolored could be the only real sign. But this doesn’t explain mine either.
Anyway, some advice…
keep it cut short
to prevent the splits, use a clear nail polish over it. No one will notice. Maybe it makes your nail a little shinier, but they’ll have to be really paying attention.
if it does split down the middle, use a nail file to eliminate the rough edges. Then the clear nail polish to prevent it from splitting any more.
I’ve been living with this for 35 years. It was real bad when I was a kid and has been less of a issue since reaching adulthood… but shows no sign of going away.
This probably has nothing to do with your malady, just throwing it out there on the off chance:
Mrs. wonder mutt just had a cyst removed (via hand surgeon) from just behind the cuticle (there to almost the first knuckle back). Brace yourself–this makes ME cringe: she has a pea-sized hole in the top of her finger now that should just “fill in” over time. The cyst caused the nail to grow in funny, didn’t cause any redness, swelling, or discolored pus; just clear oozing when poked with a pin.
Doctor for the diagnosis and potential treatment (it’s possible Doc will just shrug) …
manicurist for the cosmetic assistance, especially with smoothing out the split parts.
Once the dr rules out any infection, you can use a little nail glue (or superglue) over the filed-down split parts, and matte clear nail polish over that.
I WOULD NOT ask a manicurist to put an artificial nail over it. To make the artificial nail stick, they have to file off the top layers of the natural nail, making it very thin. Your natural nail is already peeling and splitting; filing it down to tissue paper thickness is not going to help. I agree with keeping the nail trimmed short and applying a hardening nail polish to strengthen it.