Definition:
Grooves across the fingernails or transverse lines are called Beau's lines. These nail abnormalities refer to shape, texture, abnormal color or thickness of the toenails or fingernails. With normal nail growth, the lines progress distally and eventually disappear at the free edge.
Diagnosis:
Blood tests, x-rays or examination of parts of the nail in the laboratory are among the diagnostic tests depending on what other symptoms exist.
Treatment:
Some tips for the treatment of Beau's lines include trimming of brittle nails after a bath or moisturize it, applying a moisturizer on nails each time you wash your hands, moisturizing cuticles and nails at bedtime and cover them with cotton gloves, avoiding removers with acetone, which dries nails and not using nail polish remover more than twice a month.
Symptoms and Signs:
Occurring along the toenails and fingernails are Beau's lines. Spanning its entire breadth, the grooves extend across the nail plate.
Determining how much time has elapsed since the line was formed, it is possible to measure the distance from the area where the cuticle is seen and where the nail originates (the proximal nail fold) to the leading edge of the Beau's line.
Causes:
The possible causes of Beau's lines are from injuries such as chronic picking or rubbing of the skin behind the nail which can cause a washboard nail and crushing the base of the nail or the nail bed which may cause a permanent deformity. Another cause is from infections such as fungus or yeast which cause changes in the color, shape and the texture of the nails.
Diseases such as disorders that affect the amount of oxygen in the blood can cause clubbing and poisons such as arsenic-poisoning may cause white line and horizontal ridges.
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