Via the NY Post, experts suggest that there is a way you can tell if you've previously had COVID, just by looking at your nails! Yes, your fingertips or your toenails! Nail abnormalities can tell a lot about a person's health in general and so far there have been a number of reported nail changes in COVID patients over the course of the pandemic.
These are five nail symptoms that could point to a past COVID-19 infection:
1) Lines
Lines going across your nail bed could be a result of a past COVID infection. One researcher and expert on human microbiome, the study of the community of micro-organisms living together in a particular habitat, Tim Spector of ZOE, highlighted the now common side affect of previously COVID infected patients having a clear line on their nail bed.
Another case out of Spain reported a former COVID infected patient developed thick white bands, also known as Mees' Lines after being infected.
2) Ridges
Grooves across the nail bed whether in the fingernails or toenails. These symptoms were reported by doctors in a Canadian COVID positive man as a direct result of COVID.
3) Red Half Moon
While everyone has a half moon shape at the bed of their nails, not everyone has a red band on top of that half moon! It has now been a symptom reported in multiple cases out of the U.S. and Mexico where COVID positive patients are seeing a red band appear on their nail beds just shortly after developing COVID. You can see the red half moon as described here in one medical report about a 30 something year old woman who developed this symptom that lasted only about one week.
4) Orange Tips
If the tips of your nails turn an orange-ish color it could be related to disease and was just that in the case of an elderly woman who contracted COVID. The nail symptom did not appear until way after she was diagnosed but experts say they did run tests which proved right that she had COVID antibodies in her system confirming that the shape of the discoloration was caused by sickness.
5) Nail Lifting or Onychomadesis
It looks like nail shedding where the nail bed looks like it's separated in two. This condition usually accompanies other infections such as autoimmune diseases but in one particular case this condition first popped up for a COVID positive patient after she contracted the virus.
We are not medical experts here at WRKO. I just found these findings to be fascinating and thus wanted to share. If you ever suspect you had or have COVID, maybe you should just look down...at your nails! Naturally, consult with a medical professional, but these nails tips might just be one more puzzle piece for you in figuring out your health condition.
-Producer Lightning