Often melanonychia is a symptom rather than a disease. It is a condition where brown lines appear on nails. The lines often appear on nails in a length wise direction. As the name denotes, melanonychia is a condition resultant of hyper pigmentation.
As far as persons with black coloured skin are concerned, melanonychia may not be a disease. This is because the level of colouring pigment melanin is found to be more in persons with this skin type. However this is not the case with white skinned persons. As far as these persons are concerned, presence of melanonychia may be a symptom of a form of cancer by name subungual melanoma. Persons with this skin type therefore have to be very cautious in case of detection of melanonychia on their nails. They should immediately seek medical advice to rule out the possibility of malignancy.
Scientifically melanonychia can be stated to be caused by deposition of a pigment called melanin in the nail plate. In fact melanin is the pigment that determines the colour of your skin. Depending on the presence of melanin in your skin, the colour of your skin varies from black to white. Persons with more melanin pigment in their skin are black in colour. Now you may also know the reason as to why your hair is black in colour!
Melanonychia may occur due to various reasons. It can be due to the intake of various antibiotic medicines or undergoing a chemotherapy treatment. Drugs prescribed for onychomycosis can also cause melanonychia.
Apart from various forms of allopathic treatment, infections caused by various microorganisms and various skin diseases can also precipitate melanonychia.
The most commonly found symptoms of melanonychia are the following:
- Discoloration of nails: The most commonly found in symptom of melanonychia is the discoloration of nails due to hyper pigmentation. Brown lines appear on nails. The general colour of the nails may turn yellow.
- This condition may cause pain in the nails and finger tips.
- Melanonychia often adversely affects the general health condition of the nails which results in its crumbling.
- In some patients melanonychia may cause thickening of nails.
- Apart from the nails, symptoms of melanonychia may appear in other parts of the body also. Abnormalities to one’s eyes can often be associated with melanonychia. Accordingly disorders to cornea and cataract are often seen in patients with melanonychia.
- Deformities of fingers and astigmatism are often found in patients with melanonychia.
Treatment for melanonychia
Melanonychia caused due to intake of antibiotic medicines or other allopathic treatments like chemotherapy can be cured completely. Drugs like doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and hydroxyurea are stated to be excellent in the treatment of melanonychia. In case of appearance of melanonychia, care should be taken to undergo proper medical check up by visiting your doctor to rule out the possibility of subungual melanoma. Malignancy if not treated timely can be life threatening.
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