Possible Nail Loss, No Idea Why

[colleen10]

Hi everyone,

I am writing because I have a bit of a problem.

I have noticed the past few weeks that my finger nails seem to be lifting from the nail plate and I have no idea why.

I am a healthy 29 year old with an unremarkable medical history. When I look at some of my nails I can see that it has lifted from the nail plate down to various points. It is most prominent on both of my pinky fingers where it's lifted about 1/4 of the way down the nail, then there is some on the next finger next to my pinky. I don't really see any on my middle, pointer or thumbs.

They don't hurt, there's no redness, irritation, discoloration, etc. as you might expect with a fungal infection. To the best of my knowledge I haven't banged them up. They look perfectly normal except for the pulling away. They aren't pulled away so much that they are actually loose, but I can tell because the area is lighter, you can see that the line where your nail over hangs the plate is way back now.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be the cause? I am going to call my doctor but I want to go in with some ideas. The only thing I can think of is some sort of nutrient deficit or a contact dermatitis. I started working at a hospital on an externship a few weeks ago and thought maybe it is some sort of reaction to the gloves or anti-bacterial soap we use.

Could it be a Latex allergy? I've checked the internet but haven't seen any information on Latex causing this type of reaction. Could the soap be drying out the area underneath my nails? My hands don't appear to be dry.

I used to constantly wear nail polish and stopped a few weeks ago when I started my externship. I know I didn't have this problem when I was wearing nail polish. I had very brittle nails for a while which I attributed to the nail polish, when I quit wearing it, the brittleness went away, but now this is starting.

Any leads you guys have would be appreciated.

[leslie :-D]

how's your hair....is that brittle? any hair falling out?

leslie

[colleen10]

No, my hair and the rest of me is normal. No more hair loss than what I usually have with brushing and drying. My hair doesn't appear brittle or dry.

No weird rashes and nothing wrong with my toe nails either. The rest of me is absolutely normal except for these 4 fingers. I don't take any meds. except some Nasacort every now and then for allergies which I have been taking for years and I take a multi-vitamin at hs. I've been taking that for at least 6 months.

The only problems I had with my fingernails was that they were brittle for a while and for a month or so I had those white dots on them, I think their called Mee's lines. That was many months ago though.

[leslie :-D]

ok, tell me i don't have enough to do with my time.... :chuckle

go to http://www.hooked-on-nails.com and then click on nail disorders. it shows photos and descriptions of each. let me know if it works.

[colleen10]

Hi Leslie,

You must live in the North East with me and have nothing to do but spend time on the computer since the weather is so hot, humid and rainy.

Thanks for the help. I checked out the page and can tell that the one about the air bubbles in the nail causing white spots is what I had when I was filing my nails too much and pushing back my cuticles. I stopped that and the problem went away.

I guess what seems to fit most is the Onycholysis, but my fingers don't look as bad as the pictures.

I am going to do a search on the term onycholysis because I think I saw something about it being associated with contact dermatitis.

[leslie :-D]

Hi Leslie,

You must live in the North East with me and have nothing to do but spend time on the computer since the weather is so hot, humid and rainy.

Thanks for the help. I checked out the page and can tell that the one about the air bubbles in the nail causing white spots is what I had when I was filing my nails too much and pushing back my cuticles. I stopped that and the problem went away.

I guess what seems to fit most is the Onycholysis, but my fingers don't look as bad as the pictures.

I am going to do a search on the term onycholysis because I think I saw something about it being associated with contact dermatitis.

yes i DO live in the northeast, in boston.....truly that is too funny.

[Sheri257]

Are you on the Atkins diet?