04/23/12

What Causes Longitudinal Nail Ridging and How Can It Be Minimized?

A longitudinal nail ridge is due to the senescence of an individual cell in the nail matrix. It is unknown how to reverse the cell senescence, but it is possible to smooth the ridges by filing with a series of coarse- to fine-grit emery boards. I recommend a coarse-grit emery board be used to smooth the ridge only, followed by medium-grit, fine-grit and smoothing-grit emery boards for further polishing of the nail. While popular press claims Biotin can improve such nail conditions, there really are no nutritional nail supplements that do this. Longitudinal nail ridges are also more prone to nail peeling and splitting (otherwise known as onychoschizia). A moisturizer can be helpful if there is peeling. Silicone-based nail moisturizers can add nail shine during the day and glycerin-based nail moisturizers are good at night.