Weak or Brittle Nails: What Your Body Might Be Telling You
Brittle nails are very common, especially as we get older, and they don’t automatically mean that something is seriously wrong. Aging itself can make nails grow more slowly and become thinner, duller, and easier to break.
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MedlinePlus
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However, persistent nail changes can sometimes provide clues about an underlying problem.
Iron deficiency: Thin, fragile or spoon-shaped nails can occur with iron-deficiency anemia. Spoon-shaped nails are more suggestive than ordinary splitting or ridges.
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MedlinePlus
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Thyroid problems: Both underactive and overactive thyroid conditions can cause brittle, splitting, or otherwise abnormal nails.
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American Academy of Dermatology
Fungal infection: Nails that become thick, yellow, crumbly, or distorted may have a fungal infection.
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Cleveland Clinic
Psoriasis or eczema: These skin conditions can affect nail texture and cause pits, splitting, or separation from the nail bed.
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Cleveland Clinic
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Nutrition problems: Inadequate nutrition, including insufficient protein or certain nutrients, can contribute to abnormal nails. But brittle nails alone aren’t enough to diagnose a vitamin deficiency.
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MedlinePlus
Repeated water and chemical exposure: Frequent washing, detergents, cleaning products, nail polish, and manicures can weaken nails. Repeated wetting and drying is particularly damaging.
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Canadian Dermatology Association
What you can do
Keep nails reasonably short, moisturize your hands and nails regularly, wear gloves when using cleaning products or doing prolonged wet work, and give nails a break from aggressive manicures and polish removers.
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Canadian Dermatology Association
Don’t automatically start biotin, iron, zinc, or other supplements. Supplements are most useful when an actual deficiency has been identified, and biotin can interfere with certain laboratory tests.
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Canadian Dermatology Association
When should you see a doctor?
Get your nails checked if a change is new, persistent, affects several nails, causes pain or swelling, or occurs along with symptoms such as fatigue, unexplained weight change, or other health changes. A new dark streak running along a nail also deserves medical evaluation because, although uncommon, melanoma can occur beneath a nail.
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MedlinePlus
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Bottom line: Brittle nails are often caused by aging, water exposure, chemicals, or nail trauma, but persistent or unusual changes can occasionally point to iron deficiency, thyroid disease, infection, or another condition. Nails are a clue—not a diagnosis.
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