• Question: why do we get white dots on our nails when we hurt our fingers etc. playing hockey?

    Asked by super star to Pip on 18 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Pip Millington

      Pip Millington answered on 18 Nov 2016:

      The nail bed is a specialised part of the skin which forms the hard keratin nail on our fingers and toes. It this gets knocked, it can result in this function temporarily not working quite so well and that part which was damaged produces keratin of not quite so good quality which can show up as a white mark (leuconychia).

      It can also happen with things like kidney disease and psoriasis

Comments