Purple Fingernails

Having bluish or purple nail beds could be a symptom indicating peripheral cyanosis, which results from oxygen deprivation. The look of your fingernails can say something about blood circulation in body. Your nails should have soft pinkish color, which indicates a healthy body. To diagnose some ailments and health problems, doctors may check the appearance of your fingernails. Health nails should appear pink but presence of illness may cause the color to change or have some marks on the nails.

Causes of purple fingernails

One common cause of purplish nails is poor circulation of blood. When the body has poor blood circulation, tissues are deprived of sufficient oxygen. If the fingernails are appearing purplish and tingling, it could mean they are not receiving enough oxygen. People who smoke may have purple nails due to reduced amount of oxygen in areas such as the fingernails.

If you have only one discolored fingernail, it could indicate an injury or a broken blood vessel underneath the nails. When there is a broken blood vessel, it means that blood is kept from flowing to the nail beds something that is called subungual haematoma. The condition could be as simple as having a bruise under the fingernail.

Anemic people who have low levels of iron substance in blood can also have purple nails. This occurs because there is blood that is not oxygenated, as it should be. Vitamin deficiency may also be another reason why you have blue or purple nails. When you take a good look at the nails, you might see some subtle variation like color, texture, a touch of white, a rosy tinge, or even bumps and rippling on the surface.

While at first, you may not think these as serious problems, at times, they can indicate some sort of serious conditions that need to be addressed. The imperfection may not seem too much or of a bother to you but for the trained eye, they can give indicatives or clues about the overall health of a person. Just like your eyes are the windows to your soul, so are the nails, according to Tamara Lior, MD, and a dermatologist working with Cleveland Clinic Florida.

Bluish or purplish nails could be warning signs for many conditions ranging from heart disease to hepatitis. Such changes in nails could be signs of a local disease such as a fungus infection. They could also be a sign of systemic disease such as anemia and lupus. Such changes in nails are common in women. A disorder of the blood known as Raynauds disease can cause the nails to appear purple.

Raynauds disease is a disorder that affects the blood vessels mainly in the feet and hands. For people who smoke, when the fingernails are turning purple, it could mean that the body is needing to be supplied with more oxygen and it tries to take it from other parts of body including the finger nails thus causing the change in hue. It is essential to see a medical practitioner to be diagnosed of the cause of change in nail color.