Psoriasis is a common skin disease, with nail involvement in approximately 80% of patients. Nail psoriasis is often associated with psoriatic arthropathy. Involvement of the nails does not always have relationship with the type, gravity, extension, or duration of skin psoriasis. Nail psoriasis can occur at any age and all parts of the nails and the surrounding structures can be affected. Two cl...

Nail abnormalities occur frequently in patients with psoriatic arthritis. This study of the finger nails of 46 patients with psoriatic arthritis, 100 nonpsoriatic rheumatism patients, and 100 nonpsoriatic general medical patients was designed to characterise these abnormalities with particular reference to the severity of nail pitting. The results of the study suggest: (1) Onycholysis alone in ...

Onychomadesis usually arises from an inflammation of the paronychium or as a result of blisters and hemorrhaging under a nail that has been struck or compressed. No documented interactions between basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and onychomadesis have hitherto been reported. This case report describes a 25-year-old woman with onychomadesis following infection of the ingrown nail of her le...

Nail guns are potentially lethal tools that fire nails in rapid succession at high velocity. The nail cartridges are held together with wire, plastic, glue, tape, or paper. When wire is used, the 2 carrier wires (Figure 1) are called the wire collation. As the nail is fired, these 2 wires are sheared off, leaving 2 barblike pieces of wire ( 6 mm) attached to the nail. The 2 pieces are then shea...

Melanonychia, or melanin-derived brown-to-black nail pigmentation, is a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. The most serious disease of the nail unit, melanoma, primarily presents with melanonychia. However, melanonychia most often occurs as a result of benign etiologies such as nail matrix melanocytic activation, nail matrix melanocytic hyperplasia, and nail invasion by melaninproducing patho...

The term "parrot beak nail" describes a morphologic change of the nail plate characterized by excessive forward curvature. It may be associated with systemic disease or, most commonly, occurs as an idiopathic finding complicated by delayed nail plate trimming. The characteristics of parrot beak nails in ten men are described, and the features of this acquired nail deformity are reviewed. Of the...

Psoriasis is a chronic recurrent inflammatory skin disease with prevalence of 1-3%. Nail psoriasis affects 10-90% of patients with plaque psoriasis. The aim of the article is to review the literature for the correlation between nail psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) to provide rheumatologists a short review on features of nail psoriasis, methods of their assessment and possible clinical r...

Changes in the human nail frequently serve as an indicator of local and systemic disease. Alterations in the morphology, structure and growth characteristics of the nail accompany chronic cigarette smoking; yellow pigmentation of the nail plate--referred to as the "nicotine sign"--is common. The clubbed yellow nail may indicate the presence of lung cancer. In contrast to the ominous nature of t...

The terms onychocryptosis, 'ingrowing nail' and 'ingrown nail' are used in various localities to indicate degrees of severity but for the purpose of this article they will be applied as synonyms to describe a condition where a portion of the side of the nail plate has actually penetrated the epidermis and dermis of the nail groove to produce a wound. The condition may or may not be further comp...

Congenital malalignment is the lateral deviation of the nail plate along the longitudinal axis due to the lateral rotation of the nail matrix. The nail plate grows out in ridges caused by repeated microtrauma to the nail. Common complications include onychomycosis, Pseudomonas infection and acute or chronic paronychia. Treatment options range from conservative management to surgical options inc...