Why do cuticles turn black

People with dark cuticles often experience chapped skin around the nails. Getting rid of unhealthy habits and adding nutritional food to your diet will improve the condition. The weather in your city can affect your skin and body. As hands are the most exposed and used part of your body, nails often bear the brunt of weather changes.

Season changes or extreme weather conditions like extreme cold and extreme hot and humidity are triggering factors for skin darkening around your nails. These burn your skin and increase melanin production which darkens your skin tone. During summer, you tend to sweat more and take more showers with soap. Excessive washing and usage of soap darken your skin around nails too. You may commonly use chemical-based products for varied household work.

Regularly used products like soap, detergent, and even cosmetics have chemicals too. These are harmful and reactive and can affect your skin.

Products like nail paints and nail-paint remover may also cause allergies, due to the presence of acetone [ 2 ]. Methanol is another chemical that causes allergic reactions. Latex gloves may also lead to darkening of skin around your nails. Drinking less water and washing hands excessively can lead to dehydration. This loss is prominent during the summer season, when your skin can lose its moisture.

During winter, we tend to drink less water which can dehydrate us too. All of these ultimately leads to skin darkening. Many of you might forget to take meals on time or do not follow a healthy diet. Unhealthy eating habits, insufficient nutrition and too much junk food take a toll on your health. Lack of required nutrition leads to nutritional deficiency which can lead to several health conditions including dark cuticles around your fingernails.

Sometimes, bruises and cuts near your nail can darken your skin. Fungal infections like eczema and psoriasis in your hand may spread to your fingers and darken the skin around your nail. Fungal infections can be treated with antifungal drugs like imidazole and ketoconazole. Black cuticles around your nails can also be symptoms of underlying diseases like heart problems, kidney disease and even skin cancer. If you have other symptoms along with dark skin, visit a doctor immediately to seek medical advice.

Habits such as nail-biting or thumb sucking allow bacteria to enter your body. This may lead to many health issues. Fungal infections are treated with medications designed to kill the fungi present. The infections are not serious unless left untreated so medical attention is important.

Other conditions that can cause dark cuticles is bruising of the fingers or toes. If the cuticle darkens, but returns to a normal color within a few days, the likely cause is bleeding or bruising of the nail and surrounding tissues due to an injury. One uncommon cause of darkened cuticles is skin cancer. Infection of skin surrounding the nail and its cuticle is called paronychia. There are several attributing factors that are known to damage the cuticle which may ultimately lead to swollen and infected cuticle.

Habit of nail biting and nail picking can cause damage to nails and its cuticle. The cuticles may appear tough, but they are just as prone to damage as the rest of the skin. Biting the fingernails or toenails and exposing them to irritants can cause infection that culminate in intense cuticle pain and swelling. Familiarize yourself with the best gel nail polish brands that most nail salons use.

If you are doing a manicure you need to take care of your cuticles too. Cuticles are usually dead skin. This happens when your nail grows faster than the skin around the nail. If they got irritated then you have a situation.

How do I make the itching stop? What Are the Causes of Overgrown Cuticles? Lack of Maintenance. The number one cause of overgrown and dry cuticles is a simple lack of maintenance. While less common, systematic issues in the body can cause cuticles to grow at an excessive rate and to be dry. Getting your cuticles back in order is a relatively straightforward process.