# What are these white specks on my fingernails? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 22, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466 "2003-12-22T15:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harlow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Harlow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harlow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/1 "2003-12-22T15:49:43Z")
I heard they are from a calcium deficiency or possibly nail damage? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/2 "2003-12-22T16:01:35Z")
I’ve been told it’s merely a minor vitamin deficiency. When I started taking a multivitamin every day, the white specks stopped showing up and eventually went away as my nails grew out. ---
**Author:** ![Bibliovore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bibliovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliovore)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/3 "2003-12-22T16:04:43Z")
Could be you’re not getting enough calcium, or it could be your body is slowly being taken over by insidious alien parasites from Venus. Either way, drink more milk. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/4 "2003-12-22T16:12:55Z")
The [Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_035.html) ---
**Author:** ![lesa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@lesa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lesa)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/5 "2003-12-22T20:51:11Z")
Taking a magnesium / zinc supplement cleared mine up. The column linked to above mentions that it can be caused by zinc deficiency. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/6 "2003-12-22T21:11:59Z")
Dried boogers? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/7 "2003-12-22T22:00:57Z")
A classmate in grade school told me that the white spots appeared when you’d told a lie. no, I didn’t get a good look at the classmate’s nails ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/8 "2003-12-23T00:47:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mama Zappa \* > \*\*A classmate in grade school told me that the white spots appeared when you’d told a lie. > > no, I didn’t get a good look at the classmate’s nails \*\* My grandmother use to tell me the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/9 "2003-12-23T04:16:40Z")
Mine are from nail damage. 9 of my nails are beautiful. One has specks and the nail never grows in normal because I completely mangled the nail bed in a door. Before the door incident over 13 years ago, my middle finger nail looked like all the others. Now, I have a row of 5 white specks that have never gone away. I had a manicurist tell me that my spots were caused by the damage and since they’re still here after all this time, they’ll most likely never go away. I also had one spot show up after I drove a sewing machine needle through another nail. That one went away after about 3 years. Also, I’ve been calcium deficient many times in my life (lacotse intolerant) and I’ve never had any other spots appear. ---
**Author:** ![herownself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8baadc/32.png) [@herownself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herownself)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-white-specks-on-my-fingernails/220466/10 "2003-12-23T06:29:59Z")
I’ve had the little nail speck all my life. My father has the little nail specks. I’ve heard the zinc story, the magnesium story, and the calcium story. My father takes all kinds of vitamins, and has tried all kinds of things to make them go away. I take a multivitamin, and have never noticed a change in the frequency of the little white nail specks when I ran out of vitamins and didn’t buy more for a while. I think that sometimes nail specks just happen to people.