The healthy circle of nails becomes smaller

The nail health circle (medically called a half-moon, commonly known as the crescent moon) has become smaller, and more than 90% of it is a normal physiological metabolic fluctuation, which is not directly equivalent to a disease. Only when there is abnormal nail shape, color, or general discomfort, you need to be alert to health problems.

First, some common sense for those who have no idea: You can think of the half-moon nail as the "starting line of growth" of the nail - the nail that has just grown out of the nail matrix has not been completely cutinized and is milky white. How much is exposed depends on the location of the nail matrix and the growth rate of the nail. If it grows faster, more will be exposed, if it grows slowly, it will slowly hide behind the nail root and become invisible. Everyone's natural baseline is different. I have been working in the dermatology department for almost 6 years, and I have met so many people who panicked and had a full body check-up all night after seeing a short video saying "less crescent moon is a sign of serious illness". More than 90% of them found no problems at all, but they just stayed up too much recently or were hungry due to weight loss.

Not long ago, a 22-year-old girl came to the clinic and said that she used to have 6 crescents on her ten fingers. After dieting for more than two months, she lost 25 pounds. Only a little of the crescents can be seen on her thumb. She also lost hair and felt faint when standing up after squatting. After doing a blood test, it turned out to be mild iron deficiency anemia. In addition, the metabolic rate dropped, the nail growth rate slowed down, and the crescent moon naturally shrank back. Later, she was allowed to return to a normal diet, adding some red meat and multivitamins every day. Within three months, she came for a follow-up visit and her crescent moon had basically grown back.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that everything that gets smaller doesn’t need to be taken care of. If you find that the crescent moon suddenly retracts, and your nails become brittle, have dense pits on the surface, or have gray and yellow layers on the edges, it is most likely due to nail dystrophy or fungal infection, and you need to see a dermatologist. If you are still afraid of the cold all year round, feel tired at every turn, and have lost half as much hair as before, you can check your thyroid function and routine blood tests to rule out the possibility of hypothyroidism or anemia. These are connections that are well-founded in modern medicine and are not just random guesses.

There are actually different cognitive systems when it comes to this matter. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that the first half of the month is related to the rise and fall of Yang Qi. If your crescent moon is getting smaller, but you still have cold hands and feet, diarrhea after eating some ice, and cold sweats from the pain, many Chinese medicine doctors will judge that the spleen and stomach yang is insufficient, and recommend drinking less ice milk tea, staying up late at night, and using warm and medium-temperature conditioning prescriptions if necessary. In fact, the essence of "adjusting metabolic status" in modern medicine is the same, but the logic of expression is different, and there is no need to argue about who is right and who is wrong.

Oh, by the way, there is another piece of trivia that many people don’t know. Some people are born with nail matrix that grows far back, and only their thumbs can see a little crescent moon throughout their lives. As long as they stay in this state from childhood to adulthood, there is no need to compare with others. My mother is 58 this year. She has had crescents on two of her thumbs her whole life. She has received perfect scores in physical examinations and is physically stronger than many young people who have crescents on all ten of their fingers.

As an aside, an old man asked if there would be any problem if his crescent moon suddenly got bigger recently. In fact, it has the same logic as getting smaller - your metabolism is faster due to running every day, or you just took a protein supplement, your nails grow faster, and the crescent moon will naturally be more exposed. As long as there are no other discomforts, you don't need to take it seriously.

Anyway, the little signal on the nail is to remind you, not to diagnose the disease. I really found that the crescent moon has become smaller. Let me first review my recent life: Did I stay up for half a moon in a row? Do you eat boiled vegetables every day to lose weight and don’t even dare to touch meat? Is it autumn but you still have ice coke and iced milk tea every day? Adjust your living habits for two weeks first and then see. Most of them will grow back slowly. If you still have other discomforts at the same time, it's not too late to go to the hospital for examination. You really don't have to stare at that crescent moon and think about it every day. Eating well and sleeping well are more effective than any health care products.