Your fingernails could have ridges for many reasons, ranging from stress to kidney and thyroid disease. Ridges in fingernails are usually harmless.
Your fingernails can reveal a lot about the state of your health. One common change is the appearance of vertical or horizontal ridges.
Here’s why ridges in fingernails appear and what they might mean.
Vertical ridges are furrows that run from the tip of your fingernail down to the cuticle. They are sometimes called longitudinal striations or bands.
According to 2015 researchTrusted Source, slight vertical ridges in fingernails often develop in older adults, possibly due to a slowing of cell turnover. This is when new skin cells produced below the surface of your skin rise up to take the place of discarding dead cells from the surface.
If you experience other symptoms like texture changes in your nails, it may be caused by a medical condition. In trachyonychia (twenty-nail dystrophy), the ridges may lookTrusted Source shiny or brittle.
Iron deficiency anemia can also triggerTrusted Source vertical ridges and changes to your nails that make them concave or spoon-shaped.
