My mother mentioned that for the past month or so, she has noticed her fingernails are “stained” an orangey-brown colour. The colour won’t come off, and does appear to be slowly growing out, just the way old nail polish might.
She doesn’t smoke. Nothing has changed in her diet or medication.
Any ideas? She is 60 (don’t tell her I told you)
I’ve googled it but have only found information about self-tanner use (she hasn’t used it in months and even then, didn’t use it on her hands), and smoking, and dark coloured nail polish, which she doesn’t wear.
At some point before she noticed the stain did she cut up a roasted pepper (or some other vegetable that might stain)? I ask this because the roasted pepper did this to the palm and nails of one hand (the hand I was holding it with), and while the stain on my palm was gone in about a day, my nails are still kinda rusty-looking, and it’s been two weeks.
Does she use any Nair type product for her legs (and/or since she’s older facial hair)? Those stain your nails too, not that any of them but epil-stop bother to inform you that it might happen.
Nope, plus she is quite adamant that she cannot think of anything that would have gotten onto the surface of her nails (lotion, nair etc, would be applied using the palms, right?).
I dunno … sometimes my Mom is a mystery to me too …
Sometimes chopping up carrots will stain nails orangy, though that usually washes off in a day or so. Even if she did use a lotion “only with her palms” odds are it also got on her nails…lotions tend to flow and you might not realise it’s made its way to your fingertips.
Another thought would be latex gloves… has she done anything involving prolonged use of gloves? I work as a chemist and wear latex gloves most of the day and sometimes my finger nails will appear somewhat yellow as a result.
If this is only on some nails and not others, perhaps it’s some sort of fungal infection? I think certain fungi can cause discolouration, though I’d expect the problem to be more on toe nails simply because hands are washed and in contact with so much more stuff over the course of a day, that the fungus can’t really settle in and grow.
