From your eyes to your hair, every single area of your body can hold important clues about your health. And your nails are no different.
While you might not look to your hands for red flag signs of cancer, that’s exactly where symptoms of subungual melanoma, also known as nail melanoma, can strike.
This type of skin cancer is an “aggressive form” of melanoma and isn’t linked to sun exposure. However, the condition is rare and accounts for 0.7 percent to 3.5 percent of all melanomas worldwide, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The health portal explains that it’s most likely to develop in your big toe, thumb or index finger.
The tell-tale sign of this type of cancer is a dark, vertical streak on your nail. Also known as subungual lesion, this red flag resembles bruises under the nails, and is usually located along the bottom edge of the nail, near your cuticle.
This dark streak or stripe may start small but eventually grow to cover your entire nail. The coloured line is typically less than three millimetres – about the size of two pennies pressed together – but it can get wider over time.
Furthermore, the discolouration can be irregular and have varying shades of blackish brown.
However, there are also cases where subungual melanoma doesn’t discolour the nail. Instead, you can spot warning signs in form of a small, irregularly shaped growth that can lift your nail, or other damage in this area.
The Cleveland Clinic adds that having subungual melanoma may also cause your nails to:
- Split, crack or deform in some way
- Have an irregular pigment (the discolouration isn’t even)
- Swell or be inflamed
- Lift away from your nail bed
- Develop an ulcer, nodule or start to bleed
- Discolour the skin surrounding the nail (Hutchinson sign).
While all of these signs can point to nail melanoma, The American Cancer Society explains that non-cancerous conditions and medications can also cause these problems.
“It’s important to talk to your doctor about all medical problems you might have and about the medications, vitamins, minerals, and supplements you are taking so your risk can be discussed and you know what to expect,” the health portal adds.