longtallsally05
10-26-2010, 04:27 PM
Four year-old DD is always putting things into her mouth, including her fingers. DD bites her nails all the time, and usually there isn't much left to trim. DD has always resisted having me look @ her fingernails or trim them. I was going to put some bitter nail biting deterrent on DD's fingernails to remind her to keep her fingers out of her mouth, when I got a really good look at her fingernails. YIKES.
DD has not one, but two deformed fingernails. There has been no trauma to her hands/fingers. The nails have always been somewhat indented instead of flat & smooth, but now her middle fingers have severely indented nails, right in the middle of the nail bed (worse on her L hand than her R) AND both her cuticles at the bases of the nails on her middle fingers are reddened and seem puffy, but there is no drainage or obvious signs of infection. DD's other fingernails and her toenails are normal. The cuticles at the bases of her other fingernails are normal in color and lie flush with the nail bed.
Could DD have some sort of infection? Nutritional/hormonal deficiency? I'm at a loss. Our doctors (pediatricians and a geneticist) have never noticed anything or at least they haven't said anything. I don't think nail biting is the only issue here! The deformed nails are just too weird. Ideas on where to go from here? I would hate for my nails to look like this. Poor DD.
DD has not one, but two deformed fingernails. There has been no trauma to her hands/fingers. The nails have always been somewhat indented instead of flat & smooth, but now her middle fingers have severely indented nails, right in the middle of the nail bed (worse on her L hand than her R) AND both her cuticles at the bases of the nails on her middle fingers are reddened and seem puffy, but there is no drainage or obvious signs of infection. DD's other fingernails and her toenails are normal. The cuticles at the bases of her other fingernails are normal in color and lie flush with the nail bed.
Could DD have some sort of infection? Nutritional/hormonal deficiency? I'm at a loss. Our doctors (pediatricians and a geneticist) have never noticed anything or at least they haven't said anything. I don't think nail biting is the only issue here! The deformed nails are just too weird. Ideas on where to go from here? I would hate for my nails to look like this. Poor DD.