How We Get White Marks (Luekonychia) On Toe And Fingernails

White marks on the toe or fingernails are called luekonychia. It is very common in certain persons especially children. As a kid it was a puzzle how we get these simple painless marks. It was a delight to see it on our own fingers. The only secret to this we were told by our elders who we considered all knowing was to call on cattle egret to give it to us. It was not uncommon to hear children calling on these flying  creatures 'give me water finger' as we fondly call it.
As we grow, we come to learn so much how we have fed ourselves with funny moonlight tales. This will definitely be one of them.

Cattle egret

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There are different types of white marks on the finger with different names. They are leukonychia totalis, partialis puncture, partialis transverse, partialis longitudinal, striata punctata and longitudinal luekonychia. They are cause by different things. But the one we are mostly interested in is that one simple white mark type. It moves from the base of the nails out.
The nails are pale pink in colour. A lighter parabolic crescent shape is found at the base. The mark occur under the nail. The mark move over months from the base down to the edge until we cut it out.

White mark on fingernails

Cause Of White Mark

The cause of this mark is injury to the nail bed. In most cases the injury is painless. It range from anything from a minor hit with door, window, etc. Others are manicure, pedicure procedures, fungal infections or an unverified calcium and zinc deficiency, allergic reaction to chemicals such as nail polish. A major injury will cause blood clot which appears as dark red and grow out with the nail with time just like the white mark.
It takes time before it appears on the nails as it grows. By the time it appears visible in the nails, we have forgotten about the injury that cause it in cases of injury. If it is caused by infection, we may have forgotten about the infection because we have treated it some time ago.

How It Happen

When the nail bed is attack by fungal or trauma, infection fighting blood cells are deployed to the site. This leads to a pause growth in the body because energy is devoted to fighting the infection and less energy for growth. This cause the marj to apear during the period of pause growth. Other school of thought believe it is cause by healing proteins which sound more reasonable.
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We can know if it is cause by infection because other signs will show and the white mark appears after the other symptoms or even treatment have commence.

How To Prevent It

It is possible to prevent it if you already know the cause. It is very difficult to avoid minor trauma to the nail bed especially if you engage in working in certain settings like engineering. As for white marks caused by fungal infections, treatment will prevent occurrence.
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