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Why are my Dad’s finger nails turning a pinky purple color?
At 91, he has some redish vertical lines in his forefingers and middle fingers. All his nails also first presented with a pinky purple color at the base, after those vertical lines appeared. That color is spreading. A specialist for a different concern had no idea and referred us back to our primary. Primary pressed on his nails. Said since the color disappears when the nail is pressed on and reappears when released, they are not bruised. He has never seen anything like it in his very long career. His thought was the body is growing new capillaries and a positive thing. While we were there, Dr did a bit of research on the NIH site- no results.
I wonder if there is something else going on. And, if this truly is what is happening, why?
I’ve always associated that color in hands and feet as low circulation.
Any thoughts or experiences to share?
Thank you for reading!
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@kamommy,
When your father's primary searched the NIH website, did they find this article? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038811/. I am not sure if this is completely applicable, and even this article is vague in that it states there is ongoing research into why nails may change as we learn more about aging as life expectancy continues to rise. Are your father's nails painful?
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2 ReactionsHe may have later, but not while we were there.
No pain, not even while dr pressed on them to determine if the color would change.
Thank you so much for providing this article. I’ve researched (not NIH) and found nothing.
This may be innocuous, but it’s different and changing, so a concern.
Maybe an appointment with a specialist in geriatrics is in order….