My right index finger has a kind of white line going from the cuticle all the way to the nail edge. When the nail grows out a bit, this line is extremely weak (ie, it will crack along the line).
It would seem that the nail-making part of the finger is weaker/wimpier in just this one spot. Any ideas?
IIRC, a TV detective used to diagnose murders and came across this and determined it to be arsenic poisoning.
Whether or not that’s true, I don’t think that you’ve got it. A friend of mine had a similar condition and I believe it was related to calcium deficiencies.
Chairmanpow beat me to it, but I was about to say the same thing about white lines from chronic arsenic poisoning. I would doubt this would be the case here, though.
According to this site, “[a]lthough it has been noted that white lines can be symptoms of a serious disorder, their presence is more than likely a result of iron or zinc deficiency. Before worrying about any severe disease, your first step should be to see your doctor and have him/her test your levels of iron and zinc. Zinc supplements are easily found in any pharmacy while additional iron intake needs to be monitored by your physician.” It could also be as simple as "damage to the nail base when pushing back the cuticle or an abnormal hardening (keratinization) of the nail during formation."
I take a cal/mag/zinc supplement, so I doubt that’s it.
Iron? I doubt that too.
Curious.
Generally, nutritional problems will cause a crossways line, perpendicular to the finger. Lengthwise lines are usually from a past injury to the base of the nail. Your nail might keep growing that line for a long time.