Leukonychia - White Spot

Is a condition in which white spots appear on the nails. It is caused by air bubbles, a bruise or other injury to the nail. If you have white spots appearing on your nails, they are more than likely, the result of a trauma to the nail and are very common. Occasionally they may indicate a zinc deficiency or in some cases they can also indicate liver or kidney disease. In most cases, you simply injured the nail and it will disappear as the nail grows out.

Our fingernails are basically made up of a hard, curved plate of keratin. Keratin is a protein and it is also what makes up hair and the outer most layer of skin. At the base of a nail is what is called the matrix. The matrix is where the nail forms from; this is what most people call "the moon" of the nail. This "moon" appearance is due to the nail bed being so tightly packed with keratin, that the capillaries (where the blood flows through) is covered by the amount of keratin. The rest of the nail that is actually attached to the skin appears pink due to the capillaries running underneath (the blood running through them gives them the pink colour). Nails that extend beyond the tip of the finger are white in colour because there is no pigment in the nail to give it colour. 

Nails start in the nail bed, a flat surface that is under your nails and extends about ¼ inch beyond where you can see them. When cells at the root of the nail bed grow together to form keratin, a nail is formed. Layers of keratin bind together and the nail slowly grow out from the root of the nail bed towards the end of your finger. Nails grow very slowly. The nails you see now won’t be fully replaced by entirely new nails until 6 months or more from now.

White spots on the nails are very common and usually recur. These small, semi-circular spots result from injury to the base (matrix) of the nail, where nail cells are produced or imperfections when the nail is formed. As the nail grows these blemishes are pushed outward. Frequently the culprit of these spots is careless manicuring. These spots are not cause for concern and will eventually grow out.