The nail health circle has grown

The regrowth of the healthy circle on the nail (the medical standard name is nail half moon) is essentially an intuitive manifestation of the increased growth activity of the nail matrix. It can be used as a reference signal for daily judgment of physical status, but it must not be directly equated with "physical health" - individual innate differences, recent living habits, and even minor trauma to the nail may affect its appearance and shape.

When I was grinding the edge with my fingers after cutting my nails last week, I suddenly saw a half-millimetre-wide milky white border at the base of my index nail. I looked at it over and over for a long time and almost jumped up. In the past two years, I worked on projects until three o'clock in the morning. Except for two thumbs, all my ten fingers were bare.

My mother’s first reaction when she found out about this was “you have replenished your qi and blood.” She has always believed in the old Chinese medicine doctor, who said that the health circle is a person’s “vital circle”. Under normal conditions, there should be 8 to 10 circles, each accounting for about one-fifth of the nail. The more uniform the color and the clearer the boundary, the more sufficient qi and blood. The previous disappearance was due to poor spleen and stomach transportation, and the qi and blood were not supplied to the ends of the nails. Now that they have grown back, it must be the result of going to bed early every day and eating enough meat for the past three months.

I called the dermatology department specifically for this matter before. The doctor’s explanation was based on a different logic: To put it bluntly, healthy circles are new nails that are not completely keratinized. Our nails grow from the nail matrix hidden under the nail root. Newly formed nails are milky white. As they grow forward, they will slowly become keratinized and turn into translucent hard nails. If the nail matrix is ​​in good condition recently and grows rapidly, the part that has not had time to become completely transparent will be exposed outside the nail root, which is the healthy circle we see. Some people are born with their nail matrix growing back, and their nails are only exposed when they are fully keratinized. They have few health circles in their lives, which is completely normal and has nothing to do with whether they are healthy or not.

This is really not nonsense. My college roommate has a typical "congenital constitution without a crescent moon". Only two of her ten fingers have a slight white border on her thumb. She gets excellent results every year in her physical examination. Last year, all the indicators in the company's physical examination were within the normal range. The doctor also praised her that her cardiopulmonary function is better than most of her peers. But the sister who went on a diet to lose weight with me last year was different. She starved for two months in order to fit into a small-size skirt. She originally had six healthy circles, but in the end all disappeared, and a lot of hair fell out. Later, she drank milk and boiled eggs every day without deliberately making up for anything else. She grew back three in two months, and her hemoglobin went from low to normal.

But don’t feel like you’ve got a “health guarantee” just because you see health circles growing out. A colleague at my former company showed off to us before his physical examination last year, saying that he had health circles on all ten of his fingers, each of which took up almost half of the nail. He must be in great health, but the physical examination revealed hyperthyroidism. The doctor said that he secreted too much thyroid hormone, and his metabolic rate was much higher than normal. As a result, his nail matrix grew wildly, and his health circle grew bigger and bigger. If the health circle on your hand suddenly widens to more than one-third of your fingernail, and is accompanied by palpitations, intolerance to heat, and weight loss after eating too much, don’t hesitate to go to the hospital for a blood test to check your thyroid function.

A few years ago, I believed the saying on the Internet that "no crescent moon means kidney deficiency". I was so scared that I bought three large cans of black sesame paste and drank a cup every morning and evening until I vomited. Later, when I went to the dermatology department, I mentioned it to the doctor.

Anyway, when I am cutting my nails now, I can't help but glance at the little white edge on my index finger, treating it as a little supervisor installed by my body - if it disappears again one day, it means that it is time to restrain myself recently and stop staying up late to check my phone and eat takeout. After all, compared to a trip to the hospital that costs hundreds for a check-up, this small signal of half a millimeter is quite cost-effective.