2012, Number 1
Alterations of the surface of the nail plate
Chang P
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 10
Page: 51-59
PDF size: 470.06 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Background: The surface of the nail plate can be affected by multiple causes which are important to know.Objective: To present the clinical experience of hospitalized patients with alterations of the surface of the nail plate.
Methods: We carried out a descriptive study to find out the frequency of alterations of the surface of the nail plate in 100 patients from the Internal Medicine and Surgery Services of the Hospital General de Enfermedades IGSS of Guatemala city. Neither age nor sex or diseases that caused hospitalization were used as criteria for the inclusion of a patient in the study, which took place during the month of May 2010. We performed dermatological examination of finger and toenails of all patients, exclusively looking for the alterations of the surface of the nail plate.
Results: Of the 100 patients studied, 59 were male (59%) and 41 (41%) female.
The surface of the nail plate of the finger and toenails were affected in 51 patients (51%); the fingernails in 34 (34%), and the toenails in 16 (16%).
Onychorrhexis was predominant on finger nails, found on 71 (71%) or the patients. While 11 (11%) presented transverse grooves, and 4 (4%) presented pitting.
Transversal grooves on toenails was predominant, they were found in 23 (23%) patients, 14 (14%) had onychorrexis, and 13 patients (13%) had longitudinal lines.
In one case the transverse grooves of the surface of the toenail plate were related to chemotherapeutic drugs, and on the finger nail they were related to psoriasic erythrodermia, to unguis lucidus due to obstructive jaundice, one case for each, and two cases were due to trauma.
Conclusion: Nail plate changes may manifest in several im- portant ways that need to be known in order to distinguish them from other disorders of the nail apparatus.
REFERENCES