Question

After assessing the color of a client’s nail beds, the primary healthcare provider concludes that the client has trauma to the nail beds. Which variations in nail color might the client have?

Answer 1

The nail bed of the client is black in color. Black nail beds indicate trauma or a blood pool under the nail and into the nail matrix. if the trauma is deep within the nail matrix, the actual nail should be removed to drain the blood thus allowing the nail bed to heal first.

Answer 2

Physical trauma in the nail bed damages the capillaries and allows small amount of blood flow that result to red or brown linear streaks in the client’s nail bed. 

Moreover, trauma in nail bed may cause scarring in different directions in the nail bed such as longitudinal, oblique or transverse. If the scar is very narrow adherence may not be bad but if it is wide it results in non-adherence, the nail is removed and the scar assessed.