In times of drought trees suffer, and they leave a shadow of this in the rings across their trunks. Those records are so accurate scientists use them to chart climate change across the centuries in their fossils. The wrinkles on our faces reflect the good and bad times as we age. Now a professor of genealogy wonders whether the lines in COVID fingernails are a sign of antibodies.
Those ‘Beau Lines’ Are Not a Sign of Something New
French physician, Joseph Honoré Simon Beau first described the ridges and indentations in fingernails and toenails in 1846. We should not confuse them with the vertical ridges that appear as we age. Or the white lines that may appear in chemotherapy patients.
There are several reasons why these Beau lines may be what some believe are ‘COVID fingernails’, displaying signs of antibody memory. Wikipedia lists the following as primary causes for a temporary cessation of cell division in the nail matrix:
1… An infection, injury or other problem in the ‘nail fold’ where the nail begins to form
2… A physical trauma, partial or complete obstruction of blood flow, low calcium levels in blood serum
3… Drugs used in chemotherapy, malnutrition, or systemic diseases affecting other parts of the body like COVID.
Could COVID Fingernails Be Signs of Antibodies After Infection?
Tim Spector is professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College, London. He also leads the world’s largest coronavirus symptom study. His team launched their ZOE Covid Symptom Study app for people with cancer. However, in these times he is also using it to track COVID symptoms too.
The Prof believes COVID fingernails could be stress lines, formed after the body shut down for brief periods of time to fight the infection. ‘It’s like a mark on a tree when an event happened,’ he explains.
There’s another possible indicator of COVID we discovered, in the form of red, moon shaped lines across nails. We’ll report on these when our research is complete, and we’ll be back real soon.
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Preview Image: Anatomy of a Finger Nail
Image: Beau’s Lines in a Middle Fingernail
