Thumbnail Ridges

G'day there!

I've suffered from major horizontal ridges in my thumbnails for years. I'm aged in my mid 30's, and for as long as I can remember, I've had them only on my thumbnails.

I suppose I first noticed them in my late teens and sort of ignored them. When I think back about it, they probably became more and more pronounced over the past decade or so.

I have been incredibly embarrased about them - so bad that you would not believe. I cover up my thumbnails with my other fingers so that people don't see them. Conscious embarrasment - you bet. Like a disfigurement.

A few years ago when I got onto the internet, I searched for the causes for thumbnail ridges. The main causes I could find were :

- Beau's lines
- Poor diet
- B-vitamin deficiencies
- Damage to the nails
- Cuticle damage
- Excessive alcohol intake

Now none of these apply to me (except probably the last one :0)

I tried for a while taking B-vitamins, but to no avail. The embarrasing ridges just kept on appearing, and were getting worse and worse and worse.

And then, thanks to Google, I stumbled across the reasons for my thumbnail ridges : "Habit tic deformity". What on earth is a habit tic deformity I hear you ask?

Good question! I found the exact cause on this website : http://www.aafp.org/afp/981101ap/photoqz.html

It was as if it was my own fingernails being shown!!

So I Googled some more, and came across a few web sites. Not many, but a couple of others had fingernail photos and theirs resembled exactly mine.

The cause of the massive ridges in the nails is due to the person having a habit of picking at the skin covering the cuticle and pushing it back - EXACTLY what I had been doing for as long as I can remember. I used to do just this out of habit.

I'd pick and pluck, and sometimes pull so much skin off it would bleed.

But only on my thumb nails.

The cure? STOP DOING IT!!!

So I did!

So the photo's show the journey of my left thumbnail as I perform a thumbnail rescue. My right thumbnail isn't quite as badly ridged, so I didn't bother taking photo's of it.

If you suffer from uneven, horizontal ridges and chasms in your thumbnails, look up 'habit tic deformity' and adjust your behaviour now!


				*Thumbnail Ridges - Gone!*