Fungus, mold, bacteria? Help! - Nail Problems Message Board

Lafcadio · 12-10-2006, 07:19 PM

At any given time I may have what appear to be tiny lines of a dark substance in the cuticle under the nail where the tip separates from the finger. The lines run parallel to the fingers. They rarely extend more than a mm deep. If I take something sharp and separate the cuticle from the nail where this is happening (if it's near the front and this doesn't cause bleeding) the lines are clearly on top of the cuticle under the nail. The substance could be blood but even if a piece is removed, it's so small it's impossible to tell what color it is.

Sometimes I don't have any. It could be one finger or, like at present, five (!) of them, although of the five only one has grown in deep enough that it will take a good while to grow out. In this last, instead of one line, there are several clustered together, so the possibilities range from a dot, to a line, to a group of lines.

I've never found anything that identifies this problem. From what I've read about nail fungi, that's not the problem. I'm hoping someone can ID this for me and advise how to wipe it out and prevent it from returning in the future. Thanks.

Lafcadio · 12-10-2006, 07:37 PM

I'm only sort of answering myself! I found the following thread and I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same "condition."

[url]http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=410265[/url]

From what I read there, my guess is that something I do causes the lines, not some bug. I recently did a lot of brass polishing (without gloves), and some pomegranate "peeling" (with gloves, but then when washing the seeds without -- the gloves because contact with the rind stains the fingers heavily). The polish makes a mess of my hands, but after soap and water and some moisturizer they're fine.

Is it possible that an irritant is simply seeping in under the cuticle where it finds ... a way in, I guess? Even if this is the case, how would very distinct, very narrow lines be the result? Still baffled, lol.

Marti · 12-12-2006, 10:22 AM

It sounds more like you have splinter hemorraghes in the nail plate. Some people get them and some don't. They are simply voids in the nail plate cell production which fill up with blood and look like tiny splinters under the nail.