Like many parts of the body, nails indicate when there might be a health concern. Nails evidence injuries, diseases, infections and poisons through changes in shape, color, texture and thickness. Beau's lines, Mee's lines and Terry's nails typically relate to vitamin deficiencies related to malnutrition. These malformations are easily identifiable and take a minimum of eight weeks to disappear after correcting the problem. Any dramatic change in a nail's appearance should result in a visit to the doctor for diagnosis.
Step 1
Look at your nails to determine whether they appear whitish or completely white in the absence of any polish. This is a manifestation of Terry's nails and it is indicative of malnutrition and vitamin deficiency. In addition, Terry's nails can result from liver problems, diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism and other conditions.
Step 2
Inspect your nails for horizontal lines. These are Beau's lines and indicate vitamin deficiency and malnutrition. They might appear as faded white lines, opaque white lines, or indentations in the nail that can be clear or white and extend to the edges of your nails across the middle. Beau's lines on one or two nails might be the result of trauma to the nail matrix, but a patterned occurrence in some or all nails indicates a disorder.
Step 3
Scrutinize any horizontal lines that you find. If they appear jagged, like lines in wood grain, or they appear multiple times on the same nail, these are Mee's lines, not Beau's lines. Likewise resulting from malnutrition, Mee's lines can indicate problems like arsenic poisoning, malaria and leprosy.
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