What causes nail shedding in children?

As children grow and develop, we often encounter phenomena like nail shedding. Usually, white spots will appear on the nails before the nails fall off. Many parents usually think that this is caused by calcium or vitamin deficiency in their children. However, even if calcium or vitamins are supplemented, the problem still exists. What is going on? Below you can learn more about it with the editor.

Recently, Ms. Li encountered a troubling thing: her two-year-old child's nails fell off inexplicably. At first, the whole family thought that the child was infected by playing with dirty things and didn’t pay much attention to it. Unexpectedly, two weeks later, similar symptoms appeared on my toenails. According to doctors, about 60% of patients with this type of disease have a recent history of common hand, foot and mouth disease.

After a detailed examination and questioning, the doctor found that the child had suffered from "hand, foot and mouth disease" a month ago. At that time, many blisters appeared on the skin of his hands and feet, and he also had a fever. After treatment, he has recovered.

Is there any relationship between the "hand, foot and mouth disease" contracted a month ago and the shedding of fingernails and toenails? According to the attending physician, the child was suffering from "onychia", which is quite common in clinical practice, and about 60% of the patients had a recent history of common hand, foot and mouth disease.

Doctors said that due to local inflammation of the hands and feet during the "hand, foot and mouth disease" period, the nail matrix, which is closely related to nail formation, is damaged, causing temporary inhibition of the nail matrix function. When the inhibitory function of the nail matrix is ​​more severe, it will lead to nail formation disorders and nail shedding.

Doctors remind that nail shedding is not only common after some "hand, foot and mouth disease", but also common in trauma, X-ray damage, and serious systemic diseases such as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, pemphigus vulgaris, Kawasaki disease, etc. Generally, a new nail will slowly grow out after the nail falls off, but you should pay attention to prevent secondary infection when the nail falls off. If necessary, you can supplement trace elements zinc, iron or vitamins in a targeted manner. Pay attention to hand hygiene in daily care to prevent children from pulling, scraping, or tugging diseased nails.

After the above brief introduction by the editor about why children's nails fall off, I believe everyone now understands what is happening when children's nails fall off. When a child has this phenomenon, he needs to go to a regular hospital for examination and treatment as soon as possible, and also pay attention to the child's balanced diet and personal hygiene, which are extremely beneficial to the child's health. I wish you good health.