Ripped

I suddenly felt a quick, sharp pain in my pinky finger yesterday and I looked down and the fingernail was hanging by a thread and was torn straight across from one side to the other well into the pink section. The tiny little bit of the nail that is still attached has blood welling under it from where the nail is no longer attached to the skin.


A little hard to take a clear picture of one's own finger. Hopefully this gives an idea of the damage done, when viewed in comparison to the nail next to it.

Since I type daily, hourly as both my job and as part of my entertainment, having this nail come off in such a dramatic way is a bit disconcerting. The now tender area where the nail used to be hits on everything and even air blowing across it is a new, interesting sensation.

This makes the second time in a few months where something like this has occurred. A few weeks ago I looked down and noticed that half of one of my toenails was broken and that, too, went well into the pink area and caused bleeding.

While it is true that I need to trim my nails more often than I usually do, I am also curious what is causing this suddenly breakage syndrome. A few of my other nails, while not breaking in quite as dramatic a fashion, have broken or torn more easily than usual. I know that I get plenty of calcium in my diet, so I am sure that is not it. My nails don't show any of the signs of fungus or other nail-specific ailments that also cause breaking. None of my medications or my illnesses have poor nail strength as a listed symptom.

So I'm left wondering why my nails lately seem so brittle and with a strong desire to more proactive about trimming them.