Huge yellow or black nails on the hands and feet that resemble animal claws are not a very pleasant sight. They can be so hard that they cannot be cut off, they disfigure legs, and cause horror in people. Thick nails are so hard that they cannot be cut with scissors. Summer shoes are becoming unavailable. For women, this is generally a tragedy. They don’t know what to do about it, panic and hysteria begin.
Why did the nail plate on the big toe of each foot change its structure and become thicker? Thickening and changing color of nails can provoke various diseases.
1. The most common cause of this problem is fungus . The symptoms of fungus are very easy to recognize, as the toes begin to itch first.
An unpleasant odor emanates from the feet and the appearance of the nails deteriorates. It is easy to catch this disease. While visiting beauty salons, gym, solarium, swimming pool. More careless is wearing someone else's shoes. What to do if the nail on your big toe has turned slightly yellow and thicker?
The fungus can be easily treated with such a remedy as Cream-Zdorov. Even if you don’t have a fungus, it won’t cause any harm, and prevention won’t hurt. More details here
2. Impaired lymph circulation is the second cause of this problem. It usually affects the toenails. Elephantiasis of the feet disrupts the uniform supply of nutrients, because the toes experience hypoxia, the nail plate becomes much thicker, and then darkens.
Thickening and yellowing of the nail
3. This problem can be caused by diabetes . During the course of this disease, the blood supply is disrupted, the nail on the big toe experiences a lack of nutrients, becomes thicker, and its color and structure change.
4. Endocrine diseases change the color and thickness of the nail plate. When the endocrine system is disrupted, the normal production of hormones is disrupted. Some are produced in excess, others, on the contrary, are not enough. If there are not enough hormones responsible for the growth and health of nails, then they become thick and change color.
5. Liver diseases often lead to this problem. Seals, yellowness, roughness, grooves on the nails are one of the signs of liver disease.
6. Coronary heart disease leads to cessation of blood circulation, which causes the entire body to suffer, including the nails. They become very thick and acquire a yellow-gray tint.
7. , a disease of the nervous system , is a complication of diabetes mellitus. The peripheral type of this disease leads to decreased sensitivity of the lower extremities; they are more susceptible to dryness than other parts of the body. You need to watch every nail. If it changes color and becomes thicker, then you should definitely visit a dermatologist.
Fungus on the nail
8. It happens that yellow and thick nails on a person’s feet or hands are a congenital feature. Disturbance of normal blood circulation leads to the fact that they turn yellow and thicken. This disease is called onychogryphosis .
8. Due to a lack of vitamin B and calcium , toenails turn yellow, become streaky, and become thicker.
9. The nail on the big toe has become painful and yellow, all because of wearing narrow, uncomfortable shoes . In addition to yellowness, it may have blue and black spots. Over time, the nail falls away from the skin. To ensure your new nail grows healthy, you need to wear comfortable shoes.
10. Old age. In people who have passed the age of sixty, their fingernails and toenails become thicker. This is more likely due to the fact that older people suffer from one of the above diseases, or metabolic disorders.
All these causes can be successfully treated. In order for each of the nails to become healthy again, there are folk remedies, as well as modern medicine.
Before making baths and compresses, it is worth remembering that not all diseases can be cured with folk remedies. Traditional methods usually treat nail plate fungus.
Apple cider vinegar along with potassium permanganate is added to the water in which you wash your feet. Such baths need to be done for exactly a week to restore a healthy appearance to your nails.
Tea tree oil is a good remedy for fungus. Treatment: you need to smear yellowed toenails every day.
A herbal mixture consisting of horsetail, oak bark and calendula, is successfully used for baths and has a quick and long-lasting effect.
Garlic is a remedy known for its antibacterial effect. In order to fight fungal diseases, garlic must be mixed with alcohol to make a tincture, then wipe your feet with it two to three times a day.
For a good effect, it is better to use two methods of treatment at once. For example, first take a bath, then smear your nails with oil.
After taking baths, you need to treat your steamed toenails with oil.
To treat internal causes use:
Ivy leaves drenched in a liter of vodka or alcohol. They are first infused for three days, then taken one tablespoon per day. This helps normalize the functioning of the endocrine system.
Field clove tea cleanses the blood and normalizes the functioning of the adrenal glands. It is an excellent remedy for treating many diseases, but this type of clove grows only in France.
If the nail has become thicker due to a violation of the outflow of lymph, then it is treated with plantain decoction . Making a decoction is very simple. You need to pour one hundred grams of dried plantain leaves with a liter of water, bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for another ten minutes. You need to take three tablespoons per day.
You can also mix crushed garlic with honey and take it three times a day.
For some liver diseases, people are treated with fasting, or a special diet, and an herb called milk thistle, which must be taken before each meal. After a month of treatment, the liver is cleansed and the signs of the disease disappear.
The worst thing is when this problem is congenital, then treatment is required constantly.
You can try to cure congenital thickening with kombucha . Before applying the compress, you need to steam your feet, then treat each nail with kombucha for 8-12 hours.
At the initial stage of onychogryphosis, the steamed nail plate is treated with lavender oil . This treatment is good for prevention (until the nail becomes thick). If the nail plate on your toes has already hardened and taken on a sharp shape, it is better to consult a doctor.
A compress made from aloe leaves gives a good effect .
A congenital disease does not mean that a person has this shape and color of nails. Usually they become thicker due to a lack of nutrients or some problems with the internal organs. Therefore, you must first identify and eliminate the cause. Treatment with folk remedies is good, but not always effective.
Before starting treatment, you need to identify the exact cause, and not guess it, self-medicating and wasting time.
To do this, you need to contact a dermatologist and get a referral from him for the appropriate tests. After passing all the tests, when the reason becomes known. You may have to change your doctor. A thick nail, or rather a small piece of it, is taken for analysis.
Thickening of the nails, which appears due to fungus, lymphostasis, and lack of essential vitamins, can be treated with folk remedies. But if the thickening occurs due to liver disease, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the nervous system, it is better to treat them using the methods prescribed by the doctor.
As long as the world exists, so do diseases. All of them bring people suffering, discomfort, and deprive people of joy in life. One of these diseases is fungus.
This is not fatal, but in an advanced stage it leads to very disastrous consequences. This infection is caused by the appearance of mycosis fungus on a person’s feet. The patient may not suspect for a long time that he is already infected.
By knowing the symptoms of this disease, it can be prevented in time. In photos from the Internet, you will notice how in the late stage the toenail has yellowed and become thicker. But in the initial stages of the disease, it is quite difficult to recognize mycosis.
The first signs of this disease are quite difficult to determine. It can begin to develop from the very edge. Then an unbearable itching appears, which does not stop day or night.
The causes of mycosis can be different, but in most cases it is due to human fault. Let's look at the main ones.
If your toenail turns yellow and becomes thicker, you should immediately consult a dermatologist and undergo an examination. Only a doctor can make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe a course of treatment. The further the infection penetrates into the claw, the more difficult and longer the course of treatment will be.
What modern medicine offers us. Since each person has a different skin structure, the products should be individual for each person. In the early stages of the disease, topical drugs are used. These are antifungal creams, ointments, gels. These include:
During treatment, it is necessary for a new healthy claw to grow. This can last for quite a long period. If the disease is advanced, then systemic drugs are used. The effect of their action is high, but they are dangerous, as they negatively affect the internal organs of a person. If these drugs are used incorrectly, the functions of the kidneys, liver and intestines are disrupted. They are used only under medical supervision. Such drugs include:
If the recovery of the nail is extremely slow, it is removed surgically. But this is a radical remedy and is rarely used.
Those who do not trust official medicine can turn to folk remedies. Almost everyone has the ingredients necessary to treat a fungal infection on hand or grows in the garden.
No one denies the effectiveness of traditional medicine, but with such an infection it is best to consult a specialist - a dermatologist. Do not take risks so as not to complicate further treatment. Remember! Nails, like a mirror, reflect your condition and health. Take care of them.
If your nail has become thicker than usual and has changed color, then it’s time for you to see a doctor!
The condition of our nails can tell a lot about us. In Chinese medicine, there is even a special technique in which a patient is diagnosed based on the appearance of his nails.
Nails are horny plates located on the tips of the fingers and toes, which are needed to protect the phalanges of the fingers. Nails are quite strong formations, but despite this, they are characterized by a number of defects. Thickening of the nails is one of these defects. But this not only does not look very aesthetically pleasing, but can also be a manifestation of various diseases.
The normal thickness of the nail plate on the hands should be 0.5 mm, and on the feet - about 1 mm. On average, fingernails grow by 1-2 mm per week, and toenails by 0.25-1 mm.
A healthy nail has a slightly pinkish color and a smooth surface. If your nails are white or yellowish with grooves and thickening, this may be a manifestation of the disease. This means that this is a reason to consult a doctor to find out the reasons for this type of problem. Most often, the nails on the big toes become thicker.
Nails can become thicker for a variety of reasons. For example, some of us have a tendency in our genes to thicken the nails on our big toes and there is nothing wrong with that. But most often, illness is to blame for our nail plates becoming too thick.
To identify the cause of thickening of the nail, you need to consult a doctor. He will conduct an examination, make a diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.
“ Even in the initial stage of development of fungal nail disease, you cannot do without drug treatment. Currently, there are many drugs that can effectively fight the fungus. But you shouldn’t self-medicate, since an incorrectly selected drug will not only not help, but can harm your health,” says doctor Ekaterina Miroslavovna Rosokha.
“Onychodystrophy occurs in people who have impaired nutrition to their fingertips. This happens with atherosclerosis, rheumatism, joint inflammation, gout. Nutrition to the fingertips is disrupted, and the big toes most often suffer on the feet - the nail becomes thickened and loose. If you simply have onychodystrophy and there are no fungi, then you need to take medications that improve microcirculation to the fingertips. Also, massage your fingertips every day (or every other day), not just one, but all of them,” says dermatologist Leonid Kasperovich.
In many cases, problems with nails arise due to weakened immunity, so it is necessary to take a number of measures to correct the immune system.
You've probably often noticed that older people's toenails become much thicker and change color. Usually everyone thinks that this is just an age-related change.
But thickening of the toenails most often indicates that they are affected by some kind of disease (mainly a fungal infection of the nails).
An increase in the thickness of the nails and their yellowing allows the dermatologist to suspect that something is wrong with your immune system, and it is necessary to do a nail analysis for the presence of fungus.
To do this, scrape the toenail with a metal spatula (this is absolutely painless). Then the doctor examines the contents under a microscope—threads of fungus are usually immediately visible.
The nail can change its structure and thickness after injury. If you hit your toe hard (this happens especially often with the big toe) - for example, on a stair step or tripped over a sofa, then you could damage the nail plate.
This will not appear immediately, but after a month or two, because toenails grow 4 times slower than those on the hands. The nail will become thicker, but gradually, as it grows together, you will see a step and be able to discern where the young healthy nail is growing.
In this case, you don’t need to do anything, just trim the thickened edge of the nail in a timely manner, after steaming your feet. After a few months, the nail itself will restore its normal shape.
If, however, you have been diagnosed with a fungal disease of your toenails, do not worry, today there are excellent antifungal drugs for both local and general effects.
When treating toenail fungus, both medications are used to ensure that you get rid of this scourge. In addition, you will definitely be advised to take general strengthening agents and drugs that enhance immunity.
After all, the fungus often “settles” in people with weakened immune systems. Thickening of the toenails is not a reason to be afraid, but you shouldn’t start the disease either; the further the process goes, the longer the treatment...
Fungal diseases of the toenails are highly “contagious,” which in medical terms means they are easily transmitted from one person to another. Where does this happen? After all, this is not the flu, mycoses are not transmitted simply through the air. Typically, fungi multiply in rooms where it is warm and damp - in showers, baths, and swimming pools. Do you think why the pool water is treated with chlorine? Yes, yes, and for this too, to kill fungi.
Knowing this, you can make sure that public places are safe for you:
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For a long time, your toenails may not cause any complaints, until at some point you notice that they have become thicker, harder than before, changed their structure, color, and even curved.
It is practically impossible to disguise this problem; in addition, thickened nails cause pain and bring discomfort to their owner.
What to do if your toenails become thick and hard and for what reason does this problem occur?
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This problem is due to the following reasons:
To completely get rid of the defect, it is necessary to find out why the toenails have become hard and thick, and first eliminate the cause itself.
If this happened due to a fungal infection of the nail plate, then the first thing to do is cure it.
If the reason is flat feet, then you need to visit an orthopedist and with his help choose special shoes, thanks to which the nails will no longer be injured when walking, etc.
Whatever the reasons for the thickening of the nails, it is still recommended to visit a doctor in any case: based on the condition of the nails, he will be able to determine the presence or absence of symptoms of some more serious disease.
You can use baths, homemade compresses and other folk remedies on your own. It is only important to select one or another recipe depending on the cause of the defect.
A number of general rules apply to all baths:
Under no circumstances use salt baths to soften the nail plate, because, on the contrary, they are designed to strengthen it.
Now let's move on to the bath recipes. Perhaps one of these would be suitable:
In addition to baths, compresses can be used. And although they are also effective for softening nails, compresses have a disadvantage - the procedure lasts quite a long time, from 8 to 12 hours.
On the other hand, if you apply compresses before going to bed, you will find that your nails have become softer in the morning.
So, choose the recipe that you like:
It is best to cut such nails only after you have softened them - any of the methods described above will do.
As for cutting, it is better to use pliers for this purpose, since ordinary nail scissors are often unable to cope with thick and hard nails.
Sometimes even with tongs it can be difficult, so there is another, albeit somewhat strange, option - scissors for cutting chicken. Sold individually or in kitchen knife sets, they make it easy to trim thick nails. Buy them especially for yourself so as not to embarrass the rest of your household.
Upon completion of the circumcision procedure, it is recommended to treat the nail plate with a nail file and apply an oil vitamin composition, which includes vitamin A, D and E, to it.
Until you get rid of your nail problems, give up nail polishes and gels, as these products prevent the free penetration of air into the nail and the disease will only worsen.
A professional pedicure is considered the most ideal for the prevention of thickened nails, but some people are not able to afford such expenses on a regular basis, while others do so due to the lack of good pedicures in the place where they live.
If you also have problems with pedicure, then:
Don’t underestimate the magical power of a beautiful and neat pedicure, because healthy toenails are one of the elements of a person’s image. If your toenail turns yellow and becomes thicker, this is a reason to pay attention to it. Of course, you can slightly correct such a non-aesthetic defect with a traditional manicure procedure, but, as a rule, thickened toenails bring a lot of inconvenience to their owner and can cause pain. In addition, any external deviations serve as a kind of indicator of internal deviations and are a sign of serious diseases. Therefore, you should not delay the treatment of toenails and take appropriate measures at the first symptoms.
Before you begin treatment of the toenail plate, it is worth determining the causes. As a rule, experts identify two main reasons: external and internal.
It is worth noting that narrow shoes can cause deformation of toenails not only in adults, but also in children. Therefore, you should not risk your baby’s health by wearing small shoes.
You should know that foot fungus is quite difficult to treat on your own; it is best to consult a specialist at the first signs of the disease. After all, under the supervision of a doctor, you can not only correct the nail plate, but also get rid of fungal infections forever.
You need to know that common diseases such as anemia, persistent allergic reactions and diabetes can also cause the nail to become deformed, thicker, covered with yellow spots or acquire a yellow tint.
If you have determined the cause of external changes in the nail plate on the finger and know exactly why the surface layer has become thicker, accordingly, treatment should be selected based on this conclusion. In the case when the nail has become thicker and changed its color due to the appearance of fungus, antifungal ointments, varnishes, and creams should be used for treatment. .
It is worth noting that, for greater effectiveness, it is recommended to use herbal compresses and ointments based on natural ingredients. For example, use lemon compresses, make warm baths based on baking soda and iodine, apply kombucha and use celandine tinctures.
If the problem is constant stress, you need to learn to control your emotions and wisely allocate time not only for work, but also for rest. Although it is difficult for some, you need to learn to smile at your problems and not take everything seriously. And to hide the defects in this case, it is enough to polish with a buff to level the surface. The reason for the wrong diet is very easy to solve; you just need to switch to a balanced diet and follow simple routines so that your nails, hair and skin look healthy.
Experts recommend periodically drinking vitamin and mineral complexes, especially during crisis periods such as spring and autumn. Sometimes even one vitamin course is enough to improve the functioning of the whole body.
If the nail has turned yellow as a result of psoriasis, you need to use a special varnish that can perfectly mask the defects, slow down the process of damage and eliminate the possibility of relapse. In later stages, doctors recommend using ointments and creams, but in this case it is not worth making compresses based on folk remedies. If there is poor blood circulation, it is necessary to choose the right shoes and completely eliminate the problem of the underlying disease.
Of course, anyone can develop thick and yellow nail plates, but in order to minimize the risk and, in general, never encounter this problem, you need to follow simple rules and adhere to basic preventive measures.
Naturally, thick and yellowed nail plates are unlikely to cause admiring glances; moreover, as mentioned above, almost all external changes can manifest themselves from the inside and indicate serious diseases. Therefore, you should not neglect your beauty and health, because sometimes it is enough to adhere to generally accepted preventive measures and hygiene rules so that your pedicure is always in perfect condition.
By the appearance of the nail plates you can tell a lot about a person - not only about how he takes care of himself, but also about his state of health. In China, some specialists can even make a diagnosis simply by examining your nails.
The keratinized plates on the tips of the fingers of the upper and lower extremities, which we call nails, protect the phalanges of the fingers. They are quite durable, but along with this, there are many defects to which the nail plates are susceptible. Not least among them is thickening of the toenails. And this problem is not only aesthetic in nature - it can be a sign of certain diseases.
The reasons can be different - from genetic predisposition to serious illnesses. Let's highlight the most common factors:
- congenital pachyonychia - this is the name of a hereditary tendency to thicken nails;
- neuropathy - disease of the peripheral nerves of the arms and legs;
- incorrectly selected shoes;
— malnutrition, deficiency of vitamins and microelements;
How to treat thickened toenails?
First of all, consult a doctor. After the examination, he will make a diagnosis and you will receive adequate treatment.
The nail plate may become thicker after an injury, such as a finger strike. Then there is no need to panic - the thickening of the toenails will soon go away, no treatment is required. It's another matter if a fungus is detected. Then it is necessary to use antifungal drugs of both local and general action. By the way, fungus is the most common cause of thickening of toenails. Currently, in the pharmacy you can find a wide variety of remedies to combat it, but it is better not to self-medicate - consult a doctor so as not to harm your health.
People suffering from atherosclerosis, rheumatism, joint diseases and gout are often susceptible to onychodystrophy - a non-fungal lesion of the nail plate. The main reason for its occurrence in such cases is disruption of the blood supply to the fingertips. In such a situation, massage of the fingertips and drugs to improve microcirculation will help. In other cases, non-fungal thickening of toenails is treated by changing the diet and using special medications to improve metabolism.
If the problem is congenital pachyonychia, take soda baths and take vitamins. In general, it is worth noting that problems with nail plates are often a consequence of weakened immunity.
Thickening of nails is a problem that should be addressed at the initial stage. After all, advanced forms can lead to the occurrence of subungual ulcers, injury to neighboring fingers, as well as infection of the entire body if we are talking about a fungus.