Chronic conditions that interfere with blood flow to your nail matrix can cause Beau's lines, including: Diabetes. Hypothyroidism. Peripheral artery disease (PAD).
Curved nails with swollen fingertip
A swollen fingertip, curved nail, and thickening skin above a nail are often signs of thyroid disease.
Causes of Beau's lines include high fevers caused by infection, severe cutaneous inflammatory diseases such as Stevens–Johnson syndrome or Kawasaki disease, a reaction to medications, and acrodermatitis enteropathica. Beau's lines may occur in infants, 4–10 weeks of age, as a result of the stress of delivery.
Thyroid disease: If you have hypothyroidism, you may have thick, brittle nails with vertical ridges. Your nails may also crumble or break easily. They may look more rounded and your fingertip may be puffy.
In many instances, vertical ridges extending from the bottom of the nail at the cuticle to the fingertip are confused with Beau's lines which are distinctly present as horizontal grooves. However, these vertical dents are not a sign of any illness and typically occur as a result of ageing.
Also known as splinter hemorrhages, these stripes occur due to damage to the blood vessels. Grooves across the nails: Grooves across the nails, known as Beau's lines, can occur due to lupus or Raynaud's phenomenon.
There's no specific treatment for Beau's lines; most often, they grow out on their own. “It's common to find them, and they'll go away if the factors affecting the condition are managed,” says Hodges.
Signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism can show up in the hands and nails. Hypothyroidism can cause dermatologic findings such as nail infection, vertical white ridges on the nails, nail splitting, brittle nails, slow nail growth, and nails lifting up.
It also affects the nails, and they become brittle and start growing slowly. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AADA), underactive thyroid can also lead to ridges in the nails.
An underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism) is where your thyroid gland doesn't produce enough hormones. Common signs of an underactive thyroid are tiredness, weight gain and feeling depressed.
Beau lines can result from Raynaud phenomenon, which can be a paraneoplastic manifestation of lymphoma and an early sign of recurrent lymphoma.
A swelling or enlargement in the neck is a visible clue that something may be wrong with the thyroid. A goiter may occur with either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Sometimes swelling in the neck can result from thyroid cancer or nodules, lumps that grow inside the thyroid.
Beau's lines harbingers variety of medical disorders (benign and malignant). A cause should be searched and once removed it resolves completely.
Nail changes
These are most common in people who have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Some people develop a nail infection, which can cause splitting or crumbling nails and discoloration (A), or swollen skin and discoloration around the nails (B). Sometimes, visible blood vessels appear around the nails.
Though many seniors develop vertical ridges on their nails due to aging, horizontal ridges, also known as Beau's lines, can be the result of a health problem.
What are Beau's lines? Beau's lines (sometimes referred to as Beau lines) are deep horizontal lines or grooves in the nails. They can develop after a period of illness (usually a virus) or an injury and are caused by a temporary disruption of nail growth.
The causes of Beau's lines are most commonly physical nail injuries or repeated forces pushing back against the nail (e.g., shoes that are too small), causing a brief halt in cell production, or it can even be triggered by repetitive picking at the nails or nail cuticles.
Common signs
An overactive thyroid can also cause the following physical signs: a swelling in your neck caused by an enlarged thyroid gland (goitre) an irregular and/or unusually fast heart rate (palpitations) twitching or trembling.
You may feel nervous, moody, weak, or tired. Your hands may shake, your heart may beat fast, or you may have problems breathing. You may be sweaty or have warm, red, itchy skin. You may have more bowel movements than usual.
Because hypothyroidism develops slowly, you may not notice symptoms of the disease for months or even years. Many of these symptoms, especially fatigue and weight gain, are common and do not necessarily mean you have a thyroid problem.