We came across an item about coronavirus ‘red nails’ while we were researching COVID ‘Beau Lines’ the other day. These echoed chats on social media that are whipping up a minor storm in some places. We decided to find out the truth about these COVID red nail symptoms, and this is what we discovered.
The Underlying Symptom Is Called Muehrcke’s Nails
Muehrcke’s Nails, also Muehrcke’s Lines are changes in fingernails that may be a sign of an underlying medical condition. They appear as one, or more curved, pale pink bands parallel to the lunular white crescent at the base. However, unlike Beau’s lines there is no temporary, three-dimensional grooved abnormality.
Moreover, the pinkish tint actually comes from the vascular bed underneath the nail plate. And we can make it go away temporarily, by pressing down gently on the nail. The underlying cause behind this situation is hypo-albuminemia, or a low level of the serum albumin in the blood.
This condition is in turn a reflection of a deeper disease such as cirrhosis, sepsis, damage to kidneys, or loss of proteins in the gastrointestinal tract. In simple terms, the condition kick-starts as a response to severe inflammation.
So Are COVID Red Nail Symptoms a Sign of the Coronavirus?
The answer begins in a post from International Journal of Dermatology on August 29, 2020. Researchers reported the appearance of Muehrcke’s Nails there. And these appeared two days after a patient advised a COVID-19 infection.
The really interesting truth about those COVID red nail symptoms was they vanished after a week. The patient received their treatment at home, and did not require any supplemental oxygen. As far as we can make out, this was a rare association with that particular disease. But it is still something to watch out for, because it could indicate another infection.
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Preview Image: Chemotherapy-Induced Muehrcke’s Nails
