How Do You Treat Psoriasis Of The Fingernails?
Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease characterized by red elevated patches on the skin along with some white and silvery scales. The skin may also appear shiny and sometimes such circumscribed elevations may contain pus (pustules) in severe cases. Psoriasis of the fingernails occurs in about 50 percent of patients with psoriasis. Nail changes take place around the nail plate, nail bed, nail matrix and the skin at the base of the nail. Nail psoriasis may affect one or all fingernails at the same time. Symptoms include the following: salmon patch (a clear yellow-red nail discoloration) appears under the nail plate; nails may appear pitted due to loss of keratin cells (cells that make up the nail); appearance of beau lines (abnormal lines that appear from the sides of the nails rather than the root tip); thickening of the skin under the nail (subungual hyperkeratosis) that may lead to separation of nails on the nail bed(onycholysis); abnormal white areas (leukonychia); crumbling (onychodys
