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What does it mean when your nail beds turn red?

By Sarah Parker

What does it mean when your nail beds turn red?

Red or black (that may sometimes appear bruised) nails may result from a hematoma (a collection of blood) under the nail as a result of trauma (including ingrown toenails). Chronic medical conditions also can affect the appearance of the nails.

What does it mean when your nail beds are pink?

And it’s not actually the nails themselves that are the color, it’s the tissue underneath. “A nice healthy nail will have a pinkish or mauve hue as it reflects the color of the nail bed underneath,” Dr. Erum Ilyas, MD, MBE, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist, told INSIDER.

What do cyanotic nail beds look like?

What is cyanosis? Cyanosis is when skin, nailbeds, or lips turn a shade of blue, purple, or grayish. This is due to blood carrying less oxygen, which means bodily structures such as organs might not be receiving enough oxygen.

What causes dark nail beds?

Melanonychia is caused when the pigment cells, called melanocytes, deposit melanin into the nail. Melanin is a brown colored pigment. These deposits are usually grouped together. As your nail grows, it causes the stripe of brown or black to appear on your nail.

How can you tell the difference between nail fungus and melanoma?

Diagnosing subungual melanoma vs. nail fungus

  • brown or black bands of color that increase in size over time.
  • change in skin pigment (darkening around the affected nail)
  • splitting nail or bleeding nail.
  • drainage (pus) and pain.
  • delayed healing of nail lesions or trauma.
  • separation of the nail from the nail bed.

What does Amelanotic melanoma look like?

Physicians refer to these as “amelanotic” melanomas, because they are conspicuously missing melanin, the dark pigment that gives most moles and melanomas their color. These unpigmented melanomas may be pinkish-looking, reddish, purple, normal skin color or essentially clear and colorless.

What does the color of your nail beds mean?

Healthy fingernails and toenails should generally be a pink color – with the healthy nail plate being pink, and the nail being white in color as it grows off the nail bed. Fingernail color and condition changes are rarely the first clue of serious illness.

What color should your nail beds be?

Healthy fingernails and toenails should generally be a pink color – with the healthy nail plate being pink, and the nail being white in color as it grows off the nail bed.