Yellow toenails

Oval or square, short-croppedor long, natural pink color or covered with fashionable varnish - nails always draw attention to our hands and feet. Their appearance speaks of a person more than his clothes or behavior. Nails are a visiting card of a person's personal culture, so it is very important to monitor their appearance.

The task of nails is to protect the delicate skin of the tipsfingers, due to which the cutaneous nerve endings retain their unusual sensitivity. Nails grow continuously. On average, during the day they extend by 0.1-0.12 mm, and the fingernails grow two to three times faster than the toenails. Also, fingernails grow faster in children and people in the prime of life, the growth rate decreases with age.

Yellow toenails cause a lot of inconvenience,especially in the summer, when everyone rushes to the sea, to the beaches. With constant thoughts about their unattractive nails, no comfortable rest can be out of the question. You can forget about open flip-flops and sandals. Of course, the nails on the legs can be decorated with varnish, but this is only a temporary solution to the problem. It is much more important to identify and eliminate the cause.

Often, fingernails or nails on legs or foots and on arms or hand reflectgeneral health of the body. The attentive doctor knows that as a result of various diseases there are changes in the nails. Onyogoagnostika, that is, the recognition of diseases on the basis of the study of nails was known in ancient times and used by Hippocrates, as well as other doctors of ancient times.

Changes in nails can affect the violationshape, color changes or the structure of the nail plate. Changes in the type and color of the nails can be influenced by both internal factors, for example, poor nutrition, metabolic disorders, diseases of internal organs, and external factors: humidity, temperature, etc.

There are birth defects of nails, such aslack of a nail plate or tubular nails. It is difficult to determine what causes the deformation of the nails, in particular because the harmful factors can overlap.

Let's see why the toenails can turn yellow.

Yellow color of nails, appeared after washing offcolor varnish, is the result of long-term exposure to the dyes contained in the varnish, on the surface of the nails. This happens in the case when the lacquer is applied directly to the nail without applying a base. Characteristic for this type of discoloration of nails is that as the stained part of the nail moves toward the outer edge and the growing nail restores its natural color.

Yellow nails are also seen in chronicinfections such as psoriasis, hepatitis, or yellow nail syndrome. With the latter pathology, the nails thicken, and this is additionally accompanied by stagnation of lymph in the extremities and chronic diseases of the respiratory tract. The color of the nails becomes yellow as a result of exposure to certain medications.

Nails on legs can also change inresult of fungal diseases - onychomycosis. Predisposes to the appearance of the disease mechanical compression, as, for example, from unsuitable footwear. Infections exposed people with impaired cellular immunity, endocrine diseases (Cushing's syndrome, hypothyroidism). Uneven thick nails on the legs, dull yellowish or greenish in color, partial cracking and brittleness - these are signs of attack of this disease. Symptoms usually begin with the free edge of the nail and, with the development of the disease, cover gradually the entire nail plate. The diagnosis of onychomycosis should be confirmed by a mycological examination, and the dermatologist deals with the treatment.