PECULIAR NAIL ANOMALIES

Abstract

THE NAILS afford an apparently easy field for investigation. Much might be revealed by their anomalous manifestations, especially in regard to internal disorders. Unfortunately, the influences behind their deviations from the normal still remain obscure. Normal or abnormal shapes of the nail originate from the matrix and persist while the nail is attached to its bed or when it becomes a piece of inert horny structure, solidly or loosely attached, like a hair to the scalp. NAIL EN RAQUETTE One of the most peculiar among the unusual nails is the one accompanying the short and wide thumb (le pouce en raquette of du Bois). "Blakiston's New Gould Medical Dictionary,"¹ describes the anomaly of nail en raquette as follows: A dystrophy of the nail in which the nail, usually that of the thumb, appears wider than normal, its transverse curvature diminished so that the nail seems flat. The effect is