A Subtle Symptom in Your Fingernail Could be a Sign of Congestive Heart Failure, Cancer, Psoriasis — or an STI

Your nails might be trying to tell you something — and checking them could be the easiest way (hands down) to spot hidden health problems.

Meaning “little moon” in Latin, lunulae are the half-moon shapes at the base of your nails. It’s where new nail cells are made and pushed forward. They’re most prominent on your thumbs and are smaller and less visible as you move out to the pinkies.

Researchers analyzed studies going back to 1954, when the first research was published on a particular kind of unusual lunulae, to find exactly what the mini-moons can tell us about our health.

Lunulae are usually white, because the nail is thicker there, obscuring the blood vessels on the nail bed. That said, not everyone has them, and not having lunulae doesn’t indicate you’re unhealthy.

But when you have lunulae that turn red, it could spell danger. “Red lunulae may reflect both systemic disease activity or local pathology,” the authors wrote. (Read more from “A Subtle Symptom in Your Fingernail Could be a Sign of Congestive Heart Failure, Cancer, Psoriasis — or an STI” HERE)

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