Terry’s Nails: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Overview

Terry’s nails may develop as part of the normal aging process, or as a sign of an underlying medical condition.

What is Terry’s nails?

Terry’s nails is when most of your fingernail or toenail looks white, like frosted glass, except for a thin brown or pink strip at the tip. People with Terry’s nails don’t have a half-moon shape (lunula) near their cuticles. Instead, nearly the whole nail looks washed out.

If you have Terry’s nails, it usually affects all your fingernails. But you can also have it on just one fingernail or one toenail.

Some people develop Terry’s nails as part of the usual aging process. In others, Terry’s nails is a sign of an underlying disease.

Terry’s nails is a type of leukonychia. Leukonychia refers to white discoloration in one or multiple nails.

Where does the name Terry’s nails come from?

Terry’s nails gets its name from the doctor who first noticed that the symptom occurred along with specific diseases. In the 1950s, Richard Terry found that more than 8 out of 10 people with severe liver scarring (cirrhosis) also had white nails.

What is the difference between Terry’s nails and Lindsay’s nails?

Terry’s nails appears as a mostly white or washed-out nailbed. Lindsay’s nails refers to nails that are half white and half brown or red.

Both Terry’s nails and Lindsay’s nails can be signs of an underlying condition. People with liver disease are more likely to have Terry’s nails. People with kidney disease are more likely to have Lindsay’s nails.