My daughter

My six year old daughter has an orange peel texture throughout all of her finger nails and one of her toe nails.  Her nails also seem dry.  I have shown her hands to my son's doctor - after a brief look he said that there wasn't any infection be we didn't have a chance to further look into the issue. 

She has always been a nail biter, but I don't know why her toe nail would also be like this, the orange peel texture begins right at the base of the nail.  She does not have the thalassemia trait. She is quite active and healthy otherwise. 

Could she have a calcium deficiency or an iron deficiency?  We tend to eat a low iron diet, could that be causing her to be anemic?  She does have chicken, turkey and green vegetables in her diet as well as fruit and whole grains.  She hasn't had any blood tests since she was three years old. 


I have read many times that the health of the nails is an indicator of general health, I am a little concerned that her nails are so dehyrated looking and that they grow with this odd texture on the surface. 

Can someone help me out with this one?  What should be checked in a blood test?

Sharmin

Sharmin,

There are pictures of various nail problems at http://dermnetnz.org/hair-nails-sweat/nails.html  Do any of these conditions resemble what she has?

Thank you Andy,
 
No, thankfully none of those resemble her nails.  She has not discoloration in her nails, and her skin and hair are healthy. 

When I look carefully at her nails, I notice that the surface is not smooth and that it has a tiny orange peel look throughout.  I don't know if it is due to trauma from biting her nails.  I just don't think it would be on all of her nails and throughout each nail if that were the case. 

I am a little concerned...


Sharmin

Hi Sis :
i dont know about this nail  colors or dis-coloration ..
but i red somewere in aan article about phsycology that nail biting is an indication that, the person who is biting their nail is deeply thinking about something  ... and he/she dont know wats going on around his/her .. i can assure you its true .. bcoze , i was also a super nail biter, when i was below 15 ... soo you may ask to your daughter and amaze her that you know she is deeply thinking something , , when she start biting her nails  ....

well... in my case of nail biting , it was the time when i was new to the computer, i didnt knew  much about computer in those times, i did this ( nail biting ) in situations similar to this    ..during O.S ( operating system) re-installation...  huh.. wat a boringg and time gaining proccess it was ( its still the same ) .. 

i hope you will also find this study is right as i amazed my cousins several time when they were biting their nails...
and reponse of most of them was  " thinking about the project given by my teacher " hahhaha

thanks Umair,

she is a bit of a thinker...
i can deal with the nail biting - and if the bumpy texture of her nails is related to trauma from biting them. 

I just pray that it does not mean that something more serious is going on.  Every time I read something - there is talk of liver problems, kidney problems etc.  and I am getting freaked out!!  I don't think I can handle anymore health problems!

I'll let you know once I take her to see a doctor tomorrow. 

Thanks again for your support,

Sharmin

iHi Sharmin Sis :
s it another proove of that the article was true ?? .. i think yes ...... wow ...

My daughter's blood tests came back normal - thank god! I just seem to worry about everything these days.
She doesn't seem to be deficient in anything. 

I think Umair is right - she is a thinker...

cheers,

Sharmin

Thanx to the Article i red in a magazine a few year ago ....

I am sooooooooooo happy for you Sharmin.May god bless you and your lovely family.

Actually, the doctor looked at her report and said that her iron was very low.  She is not a thal carrier and with ours being a low iron household it I am not surprised.  Hopefully a little bit of iron supplement will get her back to normal - the doctor thinks that within 6 weeks her nail growth will be normal.   Her ferritin was 10 - I guess that is pretty low.

Thanks again everyone,

Sharmin

Hi sharmin ,
you may also try spinach , it came in many forms and one of the easy formm is "canned spinach"  .. it has alot of iron  .. i think you may give her by putting in Salad ... its a good source of iron as i continously hearing that to a long time  .... its called " SAAG "  here in south Asia .... its a green vegetable and i heard that green vegetables alway have more iron than other vegetables ... here is a little about spinach ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach

Spinach, raw
Nutritional value per     100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 20 kcal            100 kJ
Carbohydrates             3.6 g
- Sugars                      0.4 g
- Dietary fiber              2.2 g   
Fat                            0.4 g
Protein                          2.2 g
Vitamin A equiv.          469 μg  52%
- β-carotene               5626 μg  52%
Folate (Vit. B9)           194 μg  49%
Vitamin C                      28 mg 47%
Vitamin E                          2 mg 13%
Vitamin K                   483 μg 460%
Calcium                     99 mg 10%
Iron                              2.7 mg 22%
 

best regards
take care
umair

Thank you Umair,

My daughter loves saag - i don't know how to make it by her naani makes it for her sometimes.   I will get her to make some more.

Thanks bud,  you are always full of good information!

Sharmin

hi Sis ,
i also like saag but bcoze of it is high iron diet and i m having iron-overload , i have been avoiding to my childhood ... please check your PM inbox i m going to send there some saag recipes like saag paneer, Spinach with Fresh Cheese and much more recipes of saag ... some cool web adresses about saag's recipes ....

note:  if someone else want those adress please send  me PM, i will send  . i m not sending those adreses here on the forum bcoze its not a cooking forum    ..

take care
umair

you're too funny Umair 

also, saag is high in iron and tastes REALLY good - so we don't want a new epidemic - iron overload from eating saag! 

not that much high too create some new complications ...
its not that much high iron diet but if she need some iron pills, she can try saag instead of pills ( i think ,, but ot sure ) ..  there are alot of v recipes of saag on sites i sent  ..... its good for her  but not for me ...... 

i said something wrong??  

i also like saag but bcoze of it is high iron diet and i m having iron-overload , i have been avoiding to my childhood ...

  but its ok to taste a few bytes of it everytime ;)