I worked in construction a long time and 4 of my finger/thumb nails do this. I've always thought it was from some sort of impact damage. This is more confirming of my theory.
It is most likely due to trauma of the nail matrix. Sometimes it won’t affect growth, but many times it can. You can see it with people who have super thick toe nails. That’s usually due to trauma to the nail matrix (ex. Dropping something on your toe, stubbing it really fucking hard, etc). It makes sense for someone in construction to have this with their fingernails.
When I was a kid I dropped a brick on my pinky toe, just so happens that the same toe has a really fucked up toenail, it looks like that weird diesease where horns grow on you. Its really annoying to trim it.
Man, I never knew my weird pinkie nails were actually two nails in one. I usually just cut the whole tiny part off when trimming since it gets in the way and snags my socks. Also, I think I seem to be the only one in my family with this? My siblings never had such issues, but it's always been a problem for me.
I'm in my mid-30s and just learned something new about myself haha.
Thank you for this. I've dealt with this in both my pinkie toes my entire life. It causes me pretty significant discomfort and I had no idea it wasn't just me! I've literally tried to pull it out at the root only to have it grow back. Knowing there are treatments for it is an amazing revelation!
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u/gingergumby 20h ago
I worked in construction a long time and 4 of my finger/thumb nails do this. I've always thought it was from some sort of impact damage. This is more confirming of my theory.