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Your hands reveal a lot about the state of your health. This is something that has been recognised since at least the time of Hippocrates - the father of modern medicine.The ancient Greek physician
first described "clubbing" in a patient with empyema (where pus fills the space between the lungs and the membrane around it) in the fifth century BC. Clubbing is where the nail looks like an upside-down spoon, and it is still recognised as a sign of disease.
© Hojasmuertas/Wikimedia commons, CC BY-SATypical ground glass appearance of Terryโs nails.
Although nowadays, clubbing is linked to more than just empyema. It is also
linked to cystic fibrosis, cirrhosis of the liver and thyroid conditions.
Another nail change that can signal disease is Lindsay's nails. This is where one or more nails are half white and half reddish brown. Around
50% of people with
chronic kidney disease have nails like this. But it can also be a sign of
cirrhosis of the liver and
Behcet's disease, a rare condition that causes inflammation of the blood vessels.
Terry's nails, where
one or more fingernails have a ground-glass appearance, can also be a sign of
cirrhosis of the liver, but they are also associated with type 2 diabetes, kidney failure and HIV.
And sounding a bit more medical and a bit less like a high street nail bar is
Muehrcke's nails, which is where one or more horizontal lines run across the fingernails. This nail pattern indicates a decrease in the most abundant protein in the blood:
albumin. These nail markings can be an indicator of
kidney disease.
But sometimes changes in nail colour and pattern are not sinister and are merely signs of ageing.
Neapolitan nails, so called because of their three distinct colour zones, are often seen in people over the age of 70 and are nothing to worry about.
Comment: It's perhaps a sign of how deep into dystopia our planet has gone that, rather than seeing this as some kind of stellar achievement, one's mind, instead, can't help but dread how it will be used in the decaying West for sinister purposes: