When something is wrong with your body, it tends to give you little clues. One to look out for is eggshell nails. When your nails start to get soft and brittle, it means the underlying tissues, blood vessels, and nerves have something going on with them. Eggshell nails can manifest from several different disorders, according to John Montgomery Yost, MD, MPH.
One of the most common causes is environmental issues like the use of chemicals on your nails or the weather where you live. Stress, vitamin deficiency, and malnutrition can also lead to problems with the nail matrix, causing your nails to become softer. If you take certain medications, you might want to look at the side effects to see if they could be the cause.
If you can't pinpoint an environmental factor or medication, then it could be an underlying condition causing your eggshell nails. Dr. Yost points out that thyroid diseases, Raynaud's phenomenon (where extremities overreact to heat and cold), and peripheral vascular disease are a few main players in the eggshell nail condition. It could also just be your genetic predisposition, but thankfully that doesn't mean you don't have options available to treat it.
