Ask when having doubt: what’s the matter with white dots or lines on your nails?

Many people have small white dots or white lines on their nails. which look not good. And they are worried about whether those white spots suggest that there is something wrong with their body or or they lack.

In this case, you may have “leukonychia”. What’s the matter with “leukonychia”? Does it matter? How to treat it?

Follow us to learn more.

What is leukonychia?

Leukonychia is a condition where white lines or dots appear on your finger or toenails.

The occurrence of white nail is related to the nail plate or the nail bed under the nail plate, which is manifested as different white spots, patches or lines on the nail.

Among them, it is called “true leukonychia”, which can be subdivided into leukonychia punctate, leukonychia striata, leukonychia partialis and leukonychia totalis.

If there is no problem with the nail plate and while the white is on nail bed, it is called “obvious leukonychia”.

Different types of leukonychia have different causes, which can be caused by trauma, infection, genetic or systemic diseases:

Leukonychia punctate are caused by minor trauma and are usually seen in children.

Leukonychia striata, leukonychia partialis are usually caused by other diseases, which are common in adults.

Leukonychia totalis is generally related to heredity, which is rare.

The common cause of obvious leukonychia is nail bed edema, which may be related to medical diseases.

What symptoms does leukonychia have?

It mainly causes the change of nail cap color, and white spots or lines in different areas can be seen with the naked eye. There are five main categories of common situations.

1.Leukonychia punctata:

There are irregular white spots on the nails, which will not fade when pressed.

2.Leukonychia striata: there are horizontal or vertical white lines on the nail, one or several of which are of different width and do not fade when pressed.

3. leukonychia partialis: part of the nail turns white, white appears in pieces, and will not fade when pressed.

4. leukonychia totalis : all nails turn white and do not fade when pressed.

5. Obvious leukonychia : white can be seen through the transparent nail cap. After pressing the nail cap, the white can disappear. Obvious leukonychia can be further divided into muehrcke nail, Terry nail and half nail.

Muehrcke nail: the nail has multiple transverse leucorrhea, parallel to the proximal crescent.

Terry’s nail: in Terry’s nail, the distal end of the nail is 1 ~ 2 mm in normal pink, while the whole nail cover or the proximal end of the nail is white due to the change of nail bed.

Half nail: the proximal part of the half nail is white, while the distal part is red, pink or brown. The boundary between the two is very clear.

How to treat leukonychia?

Most leukonychia has no effect on human body, mainly on beauty. It depends on personal needs to decide whether to treat it; If it is caused by other potential primary diseases, active treatment is needed.

Usually go to the dermatology department first in the hospital. Diseases related to dermatology are excluded or treated by dermatologists; Then see whether the primary disease is evaluated, diagnosed and treated by a physician.

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