~I'm Not Sure What To Do About It~

by Snow
(Alabama)

Hi! It's me, Snow, again. I absolutely LOVE this website and I'm soo glad someone decided to make this. This site has answered a lot of my questions that I was concerned with.

I have a question about my toe nails though. I play basketball and that's the only sport I play. I wear these thin-like socks that have like cute designs on them and I wear white (kinda thick) footie socks sometimes. I also wear socks around the house because I don't feel comfy walking around bare-footed. For someone odd reason I can't get my toe nails to grow or at least keep toe nail polish on. It usually stays on for about 3 days. I would love for it to stay on longer so I don't have to constantly keep taking it off and putting more on and so on and so on. When I wear my cute socks during practice or during a game they tend to chip off a little. I don't know what the problem is.

I almost have the same problem with my finger nails. I can get them to grow, but the finger nail polish doesn't stay on either for more than 1 or 2 days. It drives me crazy!!

What should I do? Should I stop wearing socks or wear thicker ones? Why won't my polish stay on my toes/finger nails for more than 2 days? Why don’t my toe nails grow instead of constantly chipping off? What would you do?????


Reply:

Hi, Snow, welcome back.
Not easy to give you a sure answer. You can try, first, home remedies. If it won’t help you need to see a doctor who can diagnose the exact cause of it.
Your condition is called ‘Brittle Nails’ (Onychorrhexis). About 20% of population has similar problems and it is regardless of age or gender.

If you have a problem with nails, the polish will suffer with it as well.

Reasons may be numerous and simple, such as from soapy water, nail polish remover, stress, various irritants, the way how you wet and dry your nails.

Mineral wise it may be a deficiency of zinc, iron (or; too much selenium).

If it comes to washing with water, use gloves for a while and see if it helps.
Eat foods rich in potassium, niacin, phosphorus, Biotin.

If it won’t help within a week or so, see a doctor. I’m not qualified to diagnose or treat you. This is just to give you an idea.
In any case there is a treatment available, depending on the cause. Socks will be not causing it.

To answer your question “what would you do????” directly, is: experiment for a week. If no improvement, see a doctor.

I hope it will help.