# White spots on my fingernails **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560 "2003-04-09T15:20:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yoyo3500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5daacb/32.png) [@yoyo3500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyo3500)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/1 "2003-04-09T15:20:32Z")
😕 Why do I get white spots on my fingernails? Are they like fingernail bruises? Are they chemical imbalances in my fingernails? Are they clouds? I was just wondering about this… ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/2 "2003-04-09T15:24:58Z")
I’ve always heard that they are little bruises from where you’ve banged into something. Damage to the nail itself not damaging the nail bed. Now when you REALLY bang your fingernail (as with a hammer or a car door) and you get the black blister under it, that’s blood where you damaged the nail bed. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/3 "2003-04-09T15:29:31Z")
I was told in my youth that this mean a calcium deficiency. I dunno if it is true however. ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/4 "2003-04-09T15:37:06Z")
Same here Khadaji. I was always told it was a lack of calcium or vitamins in general. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/5 "2003-04-09T15:39:53Z")
Ok, I though I knew the answer, but did a little searching to see if I could come up with a cite. Instead, I just got a confusing jumble, but luckily enough I’m a decent critical thinker. First off, many people seem to claim that white spots are due to a vitamin deficiency, usually zinc. However, _almost all_ of the sites that mentioned this were natural-remedy, holistic-medicine type places that were usually hawking some multi-vitamin supplement. [WebMD](http://my.webmd.com/content/article/42/1689_50294.htm?lastselectedguid=%7B5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348%7D), which I would consider more reliable, notes that a zinc deficiency is likely to cause a _total whiteout_ of the entire nail. That’s worse than spots. The same link explains the spots as usually caused by trauma. They do note, however, that it could also be a fungal infection or something similar, especially if it doesn’t “grow out” after a period of several weeks. I can anecdotally say that I _know for a fact_ that _my_ occasional white fingernail spots are due to trauma. I hit or pinch my fingernail, and in the exact place where it occurred, later in the day I’ll notice a white spot there. No place I can find says _what_ the spots are though, which I think is the interesting question here. My **wild guess** is that since the fingernail is basically made up of dense fibers, the trauma causes some disruption in the normal pattern of these fibers that causes the nail to scatter more light in the affected area than is normal (fingernails are translucent, of course). Just my guess. ---
**Author:** ![yoyo3500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5daacb/32.png) [@yoyo3500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyo3500)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/6 "2003-04-09T15:40:46Z")
Can’t be calcium deficiency in my case. I drink way too much milk for that! Is there a doctor in the house? ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/7 "2003-04-09T15:42:24Z")
Oops, should’ve read more carefully. Never mind that part about the nails growing out after several weeks. It takes months. So, if you know you haven’t hit your fingers (or toes) on anything, but see a bunch of white spots–you could have a fungal infection. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/8 "2003-04-09T16:18:37Z")
Why people don’t go directly to [the source](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_035.html) is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![yoyo3500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5daacb/32.png) [@yoyo3500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyo3500)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/9 "2003-04-09T16:45:18Z")
Thanks! You saved me! ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-spots-on-my-fingernails/167560/10 "2003-04-09T18:57:22Z")
My pleasure.