Does the nail discoloration in this boy signal an underlying disorder?

Login to Download PDF version
Authors: 

NIRAV SHASTRI, MD and MILTON FOWLER, MD
Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics, University of Missouri–Kansas City

Dr Shastri is associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and Dr Fowler is director and section chief in the department of pediatrics, Tom Watson Emergency Department, at Children’s Mercy Hospital South, Overland Park, Kansas.

KIRK BARBER, MD, FRCPC––Series Editor: Dr Barber is a consultant dermatologist at Alberta Children’s Hospital and clinical associate professor of medicine and community health sciences at the University of Calgary in Alberta.

congenital leukonychia totalisCase:A 10-year-old boy is brought for evaluation of ear pain, which he had for the past 1 day. The mother is also concerned about his white nails. The child was adopted at 1 year of age, and he always had white nails.

The child is found to have an ear infection. All 10 fingernails and 10 toenails are uniformly white. Remaining examination findings, including hair and skin, are normal.

Does the nail discoloration in this boy signal an underlying disorder?

(Answer on next page.)

Pages

Add new comment

Full HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Anonymous

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.