White Spots on Nails: Is It Calcium Deficiency?

Farzollah Gholizadeh and Fariba Bayrami

“You’ve got white spots on your nails, you must be short of calcium.”

You’ve probably heard this since childhood. It’s one of the most common beliefs about nail health.

But this interpretation is oversimplified.

What usually causes white spots?

The most common cause of small white dots on the nail is small knocks to the area where the nail forms (the nail root).

These knocks can be so small you don’t even remember them: bumping into a door, hitting a table, a rough manicure or pushing back the cuticles.

Because the nail grows slowly, the trace of the knock only shows up as a spot weeks later. That’s why most people don’t connect the spot with the knock.

What other causes are possible?

• Frequent manicures, long-lasting polish and gel
• Frequent contact with detergents and chemicals
• Fungal infection (usually causes a more widespread whitening or yellowing rather than spots)
• Some general health conditions (less often; usually affecting a large part of the nail or several nails rather than a single dot)

So does nutrition play no role at all?

It can. A thorough assessment also looks at nutritional status, the absorption of nutrients and some micronutrients.

But it’s important to know:

A deficiency of a particular substance cannot be diagnosed by looking at a single white dot.

If a calcium or other deficiency is suspected, it should be assessed with tests and other signs.

The traditional-medicine view

In Sina–Unani medicine, the nail is one of the tools for reading the body. But never on its own. The quality of the nail is assessed together with the skin, hair, tongue, digestion, sleep and pulse.

A basic principle of traditional medicine applies here too: the quality of the tissue depends on the quality of digestion and nutrition. If there are digestion and absorption problems, they can be reflected in the nail over time.

4 questions to ask when reading the spot

• Is there one spot, or many? A single dot usually points to a knock.
• On one nail, or several? Several nails affected at once makes general causes more likely.
• Does the spot move up as the nail grows? If it does, it is most likely the trace of a past knock.
• Are there other signs? Is there brittleness, a change in shape, tiredness, pallor or digestive complaints?

When should you see a doctor?

• If the whiteness covers a large part of the nail
• If more than one nail is affected at the same time
• If the nail is thickening, yellowing or separating from its bed
• If the whiteness comes with general signs such as tiredness, pallor or weight loss

Frequently asked questions

Do white spots on the nail go away? Yes. Spots caused by knocks move up as the nail grows and disappear when it is cut.

Should I take a calcium supplement for white spots? It isn’t right to start a supplement just because of a spot. If a deficiency is suspected, test first.

Are white spots normal in children? Children often bump into things, so white spots are quite common in them too.

Conclusion

A white spot on the nail is usually the trace of an innocent knock. Rather than treating it as proof of a deficiency, read it together with the nail’s overall condition and the body’s other signs.

To learn everything nails can say about health, read our article What Do Your Nails Say About Your Health?.

If you want to learn the body’s sign language step by step, Dr Kalan’s “Elaim & Delail” book and the Body Signs online course (currently in Turkish) will guide you. To start with your own baseline, take the free temperament test.