Woman urged to see doctor after seemingly innocent image of toe reveals life-threatening condition
It's pretty common for people to consult Dr Google whenever they notice a new symptom or health concern – which isn't always the greatest idea, as more often than not it leads to extra health anxiety.
However, every now and again this method can be useful for spotting illnesses early doors, which is what may have happened when a woman shared a photo of her nails to Reddit.
Taking to the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit, the user shared an image of the nails on her thumb and big toe, which displayed a faint black line running down the nail.
Given the fact that she posted the image to r/mildlyinteresting and not r/AskDocs or r/medicine, the user didn't appear to be too concerned about the condition.
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Which meant it must've been confusing when several commenters urged her to make a doctor's appointment.
"Most cases like this I’ve seen on this app are melanoma, I hope it isn’t but please go to the doctor asap," one person wrote, to which a second person agreed: "I could be wrong, but i heard, that this could be a sign for skin cancer."
"Can be an indicator of melanoma. Get it checked out," added a third.
Does a black line on your nail indicate cancer?
According to Healthline, a black or brown line appearing along the nail plate is a condition known as melanonychia.
This can be caused by a number of factors, including trauma to the nail, nutritional deficiency and medication. London Dermatology Centre also notes that melanonychia is more common in people with a darker complexion, with 70 percent of individuals with African, Asian, or Hispanic backgrounds likely to develop the condition in one or more of their nails.
However, the appearance of melanonychia, particularly if it appears in just one nail, can also be an indicator of subungual melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer which develops under the nail.
It's not clear exactly what causes a nail melanoma, however, Cleveland Clinic notes that sun exposure isn't believed to be linked.
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Other symptoms include your nail:
- Splitting, cracking or deforming in some way.
- Having an irregular pigment
- Swelling or becoming inflamed.
- Lifting away from your nail bed.
- Developing an ulcer, nodule or starting to bleed.
However, a black line in the nail, particularly if it appears in more than one at the same time, doesn't alway mean it's cancer, which is why it's important to have it checked out by a doctor before assuming the worst case scenario.
This was something which several other users were quick to point out.
"Chances of this person having two melanomas in two nail beds at the same time is virtually zero," wrote a user who said they worked as a surgeon. "But obviously reasonable to biopsy."
"I biopsy a few of these every month," chimed in a foot doctor. "While they can be melanoma, they usually are not. I would have them evaluated and biopsy them regardless.
"But don’t go and jump off a bridge because Reddit diagnosed you with a melanoma…"
Brenna Cooper