Causes of child's fingernails peeling

Causes of split nails in a child

Without eliminating the provoking factor, there is no point in treating peeling nail plates. In some cases, parents are able to independently determine what led to the development of the pathological condition. To do this, you need to remember how their baby spent the last days: did he violate the regime, did he get injured, how did he eat, what was he sick with. It is important to tell the specialist who will examine the child about all this. It is also useful to pay attention to accompanying abnormalities that can act as indirect symptoms indicating the root cause of the pathological condition of the fingernails or toenails.

Injuries

If mechanical damage occurs (bruises, pinching, blows), after them, as a rule, hematomas (purple-bluish or black bruises) form on the nail plates. They dissolve and lighten over time. When a new nail grows, the described symptoms completely disappear. On the feet, nails often peel due to wearing narrow socks or tight shoes, which strongly compress the toes and soft plates.

Avitaminosis

Lack of vitamins and minerals is another reason that can provoke delamination of the plates. In this case, the base of the nail is involved in the pathological process. In this way, the body reacts to a lack of vitamin D and calcium, iodine, silicon, zinc and iron. Vitamin deficiency can be diagnosed by additional symptoms: the color of the plates changes from light pink to brown, nails do not just peel off, but break off, hair becomes dull, split ends, falls out, jams appear on the lips, the skin becomes tight and dry.

Nervous disorders

Their appearance may be associated with the baby’s adaptation period when entering kindergarten or school. Due to stress, the child tries to constantly suck his fingers or bite his nails. At the same time, he sleeps anxiously at night, cries for no reason, and throws hysterics.

In such situations, in order to restore the elasticity of the nail plates, you need to contact a child psychologist. Only he will be able to suggest a solution to the problem that has arisen.

Fungal infection

Fungal infection also causes separation of the stratum corneum. The disease debuts with a change in the color of the nail plate. It becomes yellow or dirty gray, raised stripes appear on its surface, the skin of the nail fold is inflamed and swollen. The nail exfoliates and crumbles due to the fact that fungi, in the process of their life activity, constantly dig tunnels and passages, moving into the deeper layers of the stratum corneum. As a result, the structure of the plate becomes similar to a speckled honeycomb. And this can result in complete loss of the nail.

Peeling nails as an alarming symptom

Many doctors are able to preliminarily determine where exactly the pathological process is developing in the body based on the condition of the nails. Splitting fingernails may indicate:

• to disruptions of the endocrine system,
• for the presence of anemia,
• for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract,
• for infection with worms,
• on the course of dysbacteriosis,
• for circulatory disorders.

Peeling nails are often a secondary symptom of heart defects, diabetes, and lung diseases. Therefore, it is so important to seek medical help in a timely manner and, together with your doctor, determine the cause of nail plate dystrophy. For this purpose, a laboratory and instrumental examination of the child is performed. A referral for a general blood and urine test is required, a scraping is made from the affected area, and the biological material is first sent for microscopy. If a fungal infection is detected, bacteriological seeding is carried out in special cultural media. It allows you to identify the causative agent of infection and indicate its sensitivity to existing antimicrobial drugs.

Causes of appearing cracks

Nails are made of keratin with a layered structure, so if they are subjected to mechanical stress, cracks may form. They grow if harmful substances and even infections get into them.

Nail plates grow from root parts called matrices. All kinds of disturbances in this area lead to abnormal growth of nails and the formation of various kinds of cracks on them.

The reasons why your favorite nails crack also include skin diseases such as psoriasis and mycosis, which affect the nail plates and their roots. Provoking factors also include a lack of nutritional components and vitamins. Nails weaken, thin and break.

Sometimes cracks are caused by improper manicures performed by unscrupulous craftsmen who do not use the same technology. The nail plate and the matrix itself are affected. The nail suffers due to careless filing, and the root part may be damaged when the cuticle is trimmed.

What to do if your child’s nails are peeling

Without eliminating the cause, treatment for nail separation will be useless. Therefore, when drawing up a therapeutic regimen, each specific case develops its own tactics.

For example, if a child constantly bites his nails, parents are advised to try using special varnishes (“Belweder Bitter Lacquer”, “Nekusayka”). Their coating has a persistent bitter taste, it helps to quickly wean the baby from a bad habit. If this treatment does not help, you need to contact a child psychologist.

If the cause of splitting nails is a lack of vitamins and minerals, it is necessary to change the diet and introduce foods rich in calcium, potassium, zinc, and iron. The child must eat cereal porridge, nuts (hazelnuts, almonds), and dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots) every day. It is useful to include cottage cheese, cheeses, broccoli, and fresh cabbage in your diet. In winter and spring, it is useful to drink vitamin complexes (Complivit, Multitabs, Pikovit).

A fungal infection is treated systemically; the sick child, taking into account the age and severity of the disease, is selected with antifungal drugs for oral administration and creams and ointments with the same effect for local treatment of the affected nail. Babies under one year of age are often prescribed Daktarin ointment. Using it, you need to generously coat the nail four times a day. A gel with the same name is suitable for oral administration. Starting from the age of one year, children are prescribed antimycotics based on miconazole, ketonazole, and fluconazole. The duration of the therapeutic course is from two to four months. If advanced forms of fungal infection are detected, surgical removal of the nail plate is performed.

Injuries and bruises do not need special treatment. If a hematoma has formed under the nail, experts recommend lubricating the stratum corneum daily with heparin-based ointment.

Causes of longitudinal cracks in nails

• Having suffered a serious illness that has weakened the immune system, a consequence of anesthesia;
• Hormonal disbalance;
• Fungal disease;
• Lack of minerals and nutrients;
• Diet, fasting, anorexia;
• Menopause;
• Diabetes;
• HIV.

Unfortunately, in some cases, treatment of cracked nails, without eliminating the cause of the disease, will only have a temporary, short-lived effect. You need to visit a specialist and talk about your problem. After the examination, the doctor will prescribe treatment.

If the nail bursts or cracks in the middle, this may indicate an injury. In order to avoid removal of the stratum corneum, you need to provide complete rest to the wounded surface and consult a doctor. He will carry out measures aimed at preventing ingrown nails, as well as select treatment and care.

Folk remedies

Some recipes are actively used as adjuvant therapy. Those that help disinfect the nail and strengthen it are used.

Best suited for these purposes:

1. Salt compositions for hands and feet. To prepare them, you need to take five liters of water, dissolve two large spoons of sea salt in them, heat the resulting solution to a temperature of 38 degrees and immerse your hands or feet in it (note that separate baths must be prepared for hands and feet). You can add decoctions of chamomile, sage, string or oak bark to the water, the therapeutic effect will increase. In this way, you can simultaneously strengthen the nail plates and disinfect them, relieve inflammation and stimulate regeneration processes. To prepare a herbal decoction, you need to take two tablespoons of raw materials, brew them with a glass of boiling water, bring the resulting solution to a boil, and then filter through several layers of gauze before use.
2. Garlic and salt lotions. They are prepared as follows: a tablespoon of salt is dissolved in a liter of water, a clove of garlic is grated on a fine grater, the juice is squeezed out of the resulting slurry, and it is poured into the saline solution. Before going to bed, the finished product is rubbed into the exfoliated plates using a cotton swab and left overnight. The procedure is resumed the next day, and so on until complete recovery. The specified proportions must not be changed under any circumstances. Children's skin is very sensitive, concentrated solutions can corrode it, so it is important to prepare traditional medicine strictly according to the recipe.
3. Oils for strengthening nails. To strengthen the stratum corneum, apricot, peach, almond oil, as well as flaxseed and olive oil are best suited. Any of them should be applied to the peeling nail, and then gently rubbed into it with your fingers for thirty seconds. If you add an oil solution of vitamins E and A to a small amount, the therapeutic effect will increase significantly.

Before using any product, it is useful to conduct an allergy test. To do this, you need to apply a little product to the skin in the wrist area and watch. If no redness occurs after fifteen minutes, the medicine is safe.

Treatment and prevention

The appearance of cracks in nails cannot be ignored. It is important not to trigger such a condition, but to immediately consult a specialist. The doctor will find the cause of the unpleasant defect and tell you what to do. To strengthen the nail plate and eliminate such deformation, the doctor prescribes a complex of minerals and vitamins (A, B, C, E).

As for prevention, it is important to adhere to the following rules.

1. When working with household chemicals, protect your hands with rubber gloves.
2. In the cold season, protect your hands from freezing with gloves.
3. Careful care of nails and the skin around them (use of nourishing and moisturizing creams and ointments, oils and lotions).
4. Use the services of a trusted manicurist and pedicurist and strictly monitor the disinfection of instruments.
5. Do not use someone else's scissors or files, and do not give yours to anyone.

To normalize the nutrition of the nail and strengthen it, you need to monitor your diet. It is recommended to eat foods rich in calcium (seafood, dairy products) and drink more water.

Special creams and ointments will strengthen your nails

Prevention of split nails in children

There are a number of rules, the observance of which helps prevent the development of the described disease. Experts recommend that parents:

1. Treat any nail injuries in a timely manner, treat any damage immediately with iodine or brilliant green, or any other alcohol solution.
2. Monitor your baby’s diet and include foods rich in zinc, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and vitamins. There are many of them in fish and cottage cheese, in beef liver, in raw vegetables and fruits. Periodically, after consulting with your pediatrician, give your child synthetic multivitamin complexes.
3. Constantly strengthen your immune system (walk more in the fresh air, play outdoor games, do hardening).
4. Provide separate scissors for cutting your child’s nails and carefully monitor their cleanliness.

When the first signs of detachment appear, seek medical help immediately. In the early stages, the disease is successfully treated with conservative methods.

Why do children's nails crack?

If a child’s nails are cracking, there is no need to start feeding him with various vitamin complexes.

Instead, it is recommended to compensate for the lack of iron and calcium by adjusting the baby's diet.

Feed him cottage cheese, cheese, fermented milk products, buckwheat, porcini mushrooms, and berries. Almonds and walnuts will be useful for a child’s nail plate.

Causes of cracking fingernails in children:

1. In infants, the nail plate most often cracks due to a lack of vitamins. To replenish it, a nursing mother must eat a balanced diet and take additional vitamins.
2. Injury to a child's nails at the age of one year occurs due to untimely trimming. It is at this age that he learns everything through touch. The baby grabs, strokes, touches and throws toys, all objects that he explores. To prevent the formation of cracks on children's nails, it is recommended to trim them carefully regularly.
3. If a child over two years old begins to crack his nail plates, it is important to show him to the doctor to find out the real reason. Most often, in older children, the nails crack along the length due to a lack of vitamins, injury, as well as the development of any diseases.

Since the child is constantly growing and actively exploring the world, it is important to closely monitor his health, and at the first problem with his nails, immediately go to the doctor for an appointment.

Treatment of the disease

The sooner you go to the hospital, the faster the doctor will be able to determine the presence of problems with the baby’s health, and the faster the recovery will occur. But most often, parents seek qualified help when the child’s nails are very peeling, i.e. the situation is advanced. This complicates the overall course of treatment and elimination of such symptoms.

Therapy of the underlying disease is usually accompanied by a set of cosmetic measures to externally strengthen the child’s nail plates.

1. If the reason is a lack of nutrients, children's multivitamin complexes are prescribed: Pikovit, Pregnavit, Multitabs. At the same time, doctors advise parents to review the baby’s menu and increase the amount of foods enriched with iron and calcium. These are broccoli, tofu cheese, dairy products, cottage cheese, raisins, almonds, grains, dried apricots.
2. External treatment of nails with oil vitamins A and E.
3. Therapeutic baths of warm vegetable oil. You can add iodine and lemon juice to them.
4. If your child’s nails are peeling because he constantly bites them, you need to wean him off this. If parents cannot cope with this themselves, they will need the help of a psychologist, since the root cause lies in the child’s internal experiences. Perhaps he is tormented by some kind of anxiety, he is experiencing fear, and is in a state of stress. We definitely need to help him deal with this. The doctor may also recommend treating the baby’s nails with a special bitter varnish, after which he will not at all want to put his fingers in his mouth again.
5. To treat fungal infections that affect children's nails, modern medicine offers a large selection of tablets, ointments, special patches, and varnishes. The course of treatment can last, depending on the severity of the disease, from 2 to 4 months. The doctor will advise, in order to prevent infection of the rest of the small and adult family members by the fungus, to disinfect at home all the things of the sick child - toys, bathtubs, dishes, clothes, bed linen. It is useful for parents to know that the fungus is afraid of high temperatures, so it is enough to iron things with an iron. With the permission of a doctor, you can combine drug treatment with folk remedies - for example, warm baths with sea salt or celandine infusion.

Having noticed in time that a child’s fingernails or toenails are peeling, parents can take all necessary measures to eliminate this defect and improve the health of their baby. Remember: there are no accidents in your baby’s condition and nothing goes away on its own. Even such a small thing as one split nail can help identify a serious disease at an early stage, when it is not too late to successfully treat it.

If you notice any changes in the baby’s appearance, you need to immediately find out the reason for their appearance. It often happens that children's nails peel. Not all parents know what to do in this case. They raise a panic and take their kids to all sorts of doctors. In the worst case, they go to the pharmacy on their own, buy medicine and give it to their children. This should absolutely not be done, as you risk undermining the functioning of the child’s immune system.

Treatment of psychological diseases

If the reason for splitting nails is that the child is biting them due to stress, then he should be taken to a psychologist. In addition, the atmosphere in the family should be friendly. It is also often recommended to apply a special bitter varnish to the baby’s nails. After this, he is unlikely to want to put his fingers in his mouth again.

You must monitor the child’s emotional state, do everything possible to ensure that it is stable and that anxiety does not make itself felt. Try to spend more time with your baby, perhaps he lacks your attention.

Treatment of vitamin deficiency

If the reason for the separation of a child’s nails lies in a banal lack of vitamins and minerals, then the doctor usually prescribes children’s multivitamin complexes. Most often, pediatricians recommend Pikovit (for children), the price of which is about 200 rubles. This is due to the fact that this complex provides babies with all the necessary microelements without affecting the family budget. “Multitabs” and “Pregnavit” are also popular.

Usually parents buy Pikovit for children. The price of the medicine suits them, so they believe that they have done everything possible to treat the child. However, you still cannot do without special nutrition. It is necessary to feed your baby foods that contain iron and calcium. This could be broccoli, tofu, dried apricots, raisins or almonds. Dairy products are also popular.

Do not forget about the external treatment of marigolds with vitamins A and E. They can be bought in the form of oil and applied to damaged areas.

Baths with the addition of iodine or lemon juice will bring benefits. Do not forget that the water temperature should be comfortable for the child.