Peeling Nails

Nail peeling is a nail disorder, wherein the fingernail splits off from the nail. However, this condition is not severe and can be easily prevented and taken care of. It is usually observed with brittle and weak fingernails, often in women with long nails.

Here is a list of early signs that could help you in detecting whether your nails are prone to peeling. It could also help in determining the root cause of your condition.

• Chirping of nails
• Spontaneous separation of nail from its nail bed
• Frequent breaking of nails
• Loosening up of nails
• Nails falling off

There are several reasons why a fingernail can get peeled off from its nail bed. The causes could be medically or non-medically related.

Chemical Exposure: This is one of the most commonly found factors that cause the nails to peel off. People tend to ignore nail care when they are handling chemicals like bathroom cleansing liquids, pest control sprays, and other solvents. Women often apply low-quality nail colors and nail color removers. All these liquids and solvents contain harmful chemicals that dry out, if not washed off properly.

Prevention and Remedy: If you think chemical exposure could be a cause of your problem, the best preventive measure would be to avoid chemical contact as much as possible.

In case of a chemical contact, always remember to wash off your hands every time you come in contact with chemicals, whether or not you have this condition. If you are already dealing with the problem of peeling nails, the remedy is to apply a hand and nail sanitizer followed by nail-moisturizers that contain jojoba oil and Vitamin E.

Overexposure to Water: After chemical exposure, this is one of the most common causes, where overexposure to water does affect your nails. When the nails are immersed in or exposed to water and detergent for a very long time on a regular basis, it may result in swelling up of your nail bed. This condition results in drying out of nails in the form of flakes or peels.

Prevention and Remedy: If you live on a coast, if you are a regular swimmer, or if you are in a job in which your hands get exposed to water excessively, your nails have the potential threat of peeling off.

However, you need not worry, as you can prevent your nails from peeling off by making use of rubber gloves while in contact with water. Vitamin E supplements, jojoba oil, and moisturizer can help you stay clear from this condition as part of nail care.

Improper Diet: A well-balanced diet is the key to a healthy life. Vitamin deficiencies and a low-calcium diet causes nails to become brittle and unhealthy. To be specific, deficiencies of biotin, B-group vitamins, vitamin E, and sulfur may be some of the major causes of this condition.

Prevention and Remedy: If the diet that you follow is the reason for those peeling nails, you can take vitamin supplements and maintain a balanced diet with low-carbs, high-calcium, and high-protein content.

Environmental Factors: Weather fluctuations and climatic changes are always responsible for health disorders in your body and nails are no exceptions. Dry weather conditions will directly affect the natural oil of the nail bed and will cause dryness on the nail. In winters, humidity is quite low. This condition dehydrates the nail bed, which will result in drying out of the nail, causing peeling of nails.

Prevention and Remedy: To prevent this problem from occurring during extreme weather conditions, you should always keep your nails moisturized and apply jojoba oil on your nail bed at least twice a week. If you are already facing this problem, the remedy lies in vitamin E.

Split open a Vitamin E tablet into jojoba oil and apply the mixture on your nail and nail bed, thrice a day, till the problem persists. This oil will rehydrate the area and restore the natural oil.

Medication Allergies: If you are on some kind of medication, you should always note which drugs you are allergic to. Some medicines have a direct effect on our skin and skin melanin. They lead to a dry skin, causing nail damage.

Prevention and Remedy: Consult your doctor/physician about the side effects of your medicines before consuming them. This would be the best preventive measure. Take B-complex tablets along with other medicines that your physician/doctor prescribed.

B-complex vitamin tablets are beneficial for maintaining biotin, and group-B vitamins in your body. It also keeps your skin youthful and bright. Besides, you should always keep your nails moisturized and away from chemicals.

Besides these simple remedies, you can also try different nail products for nail care, that are easily available in the market. Sally Hansen, a very famous international nail-care brand, offers a wide range of nail care products for different types of nails.

You should keep your nails clean and should go for a manicure at least once a month. Fish-oil capsules are also one of the simplest, yet most effective remedy. If the problem still persists, you should consult a dermatologist or a physician without wasting time.

Psoriasis is a skin disease, characterized by an inflammation of the skin. It develops as patches of red and scaly skin. This skin disease can also affect the finger and toenails, thereby causing onychosis.

In other words, the nail separating from the skin underneath the nail, is one of the symptoms of psoriasis. Psoriatic nail disease, in some cases cause onychosis. It is necessary to consult the doctor at the earliest in such cases, in order to rule out the possibility of further complications.

Following the necessary preventive measures and pampering your nails, might prove beneficial.

Disclaimer: This story is for informative purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for expert medical advice.