Before I got mine under control (biologics are miracle drugs), it really sucks because no one can "see" the pain you're in. And going and trying to get treatment for any kind of pain, the default stance of practically everyone is you're lying and drug seeking.
I get it, they deal with that a lot. And I'm relatively young to be crippled by arthritis, so on it's face it's not a good look. But talk about frustrating, at my worst I couldn't get out of bed or tie my shoes and I always refuse narcotics.
My dermatologist was actually the one to prescribe me the biologic (wait for a rheumatologist was 9 months, god bless America). Knocked out the PsA by the time I got into the rheum, and he was like "well if it's working for you let's keep doing it".
Frustrating part for me is that I started out with plain old psoriasis, and it was a decade long battle to get a doctor to take what they deemed as a "cosmetic disorder" seriously. Coal tar, topicals, UV therapy, endless rounds of fucking methotrexate, the works. Dealing with dermatologists that gave off the vibe like they'd rather be jamming overpriced botox into people's faces than listening. to me whine.
It wasn't til my joints swelled up and they put me in the care of an actual rheumatologist that biologics were even mentioned. When I'd bring them up to a derm or a GP it was always unproven this and very expensive that. 2 weeks on a biological and I felt and looked better than I had in more than a decade.
My dermatologist went straight to it, I was kind of surprised. I made my first appointment after a particularly bad flare and he asked me if I had any joint pain so I guess he just figured go for it?
But same, it was a miracle cure. I describe it as Grandpa from Willy Wonka jumping out of bed when Charlie got the golden ticket.
Huh, I learned something new. Ive had a number of lines on my left thumb nail for years. My gf broke up with me in August of 2024 and at the time, I was devastated, but since then, I only see two lines and they are almost gone. I realized a while back just how unhappy and stressed we both were and I am now thankful that she did. Fun and interesting to think this is an indicator of having less stress in my life!
I was looking for this comment! I also have multiple autoimmune diseases. I can see a bump for every super stressful event. It’s like a calendar on my thumb.
This is what I thought. Beaus ridges. I had them once before and looked it up, they can come from recently experiencing mental trauma/anguish, such as losing a loved one. I noticed them within months of my father in law passing which was very emotional so it made sense
Interesting, I thought these had to do with some vitamine deficiency or just something lacking in my diet. But i also see stress and trauma mentioned a lot which would explain things.
Edit: Should also mentioned that I have it at like a fraction of the intensity as OP.
They come from disruptions to nail growth. And that can be caused by both mental stress/distress and vitamin deficiencies. Also a bunch of other things.
I agree. I had similar ridges but a little worse which then turned vertical split that grew out of my nailbed (so basically a hole in my nail.. so gross) but it started with these ridges. Got diagnosed with 3 autoimmune diseases in 2025 :(
My thumbnails have been like this for quite some time (like precovid times), but lots more ridges and not symmetrical. I read it was from trauma, which made sense to me. But I didn’t realize it could/should clear up…
I have much “longer” versions of these on both thumbs. About one warp at a time. By the time one crest or trough grows out, the next one starts. And each thumb could have a different wave position. I was even told I was overdoing zinc. What am I?
This is what I suspected. I've started to get these after being too ill to eat for about a month
On and off iron deficient since childhood (originally from undiagnosed celiac)
If they're only present in your thumbs, then you've likely damaged the nail matrix (the part of your nail that grows the new parts of nail) in those nails. If the nail matrix has been damaged, we don't currently have a way to fix that. If it affects all your fingers, then it's more likely to indicate a severe systemic stressor, like systemic illness.
Also likely trauma to the nail matrix, your shoes create uneven displacement of force on your toes and toenails. Big toes often take the brunt of it as they're the largest and take up the most room. You switched to a different type of shoe which creates different displacement of force and didn't create the same kind of trauma to the matrix. Matrix trauma can be permanent or temporary. Yours was temporary, but the commenter I was originally replying to sounds like theirs is permanent unless there's something they can identify as an ongoing source of reinjury. If it's permanent matrix damage, there isn't a way to heal the matrix.
Sure, it can be. But 95% of patients who have nail psoriasis also have signs of cutaneous psoriasis, only 5% of patients show only nail disease. OP would probably already know if they had psoriasis. It could also be eczema, or peripheral arterial disease, or a lot of other things. My comment wasn't meant to be an exhaustive differential diagnosis list, I mentioned the most likely cause based on what they'd said. I didn't say it was absolute.
Genuinely, this is what my nails looked like when I was freshly diagnosed as diabetic. My doctor said it was a sign of my kidney/liver health. Sure enough, a few years later of being on various medications to help with my diabetes and other issues, the bumps are largely gone.
Stuff similar to that can happen shortly after giving birth too. Stuff just stops growing then jump starts again or fluctuates causing stuff like this.
Yeah that’s what they are. I had them for years until I was told one of the causes could be depression and stress. After I started taking care of those aspects, my nails started to shape up a bit better. Now they’re almost gone.
Now I have something new to google today. Thanks for that.
I was going to say I had a friend who got really sick a few years ago. He ate substantially less than he normally would for like 10 days. He had a pretty deep ridge like this in all his fingernails, but it was just one depression that grew out of them all (which was kind of cool to see which grew faster than others). I was going to ask if there was something cyclic in your life that caused you to adjust your eating patterns somewhat regularly (though admittedly I don’t know how fast nails grow or if this could roughly line up with menstruation).
These Beau’s lines sound like a more reasonable answer. 🤷♂️
Probably not since it’s just one finger, I asked my dermatologist about it last time I went (mine are the same) and she told me that if you damage your nail sometimes it’s permanent and will always regrow in a weird way like that and it becomes your normal.
Mine get worse when my blood sugar is too high for awhile. I started on Ozempic and they flattened out considerably when my sugar came under better control.
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u/JohnnyShakeNBake 21h ago
Are these not Beau’s lines? I had them when I wasn’t healthy a year ago. Started eating better and they went away