Beau's lines

Alternative eponyms

Related people

Transverse grooves or lines seen on fingernails following an exhausting disease, usually a sign of systemic disease.

Description

Transverse grooves or lines seen on fingernails following an exhausting disease, usually a sign of systemic disease. May be due to trauma, coronary occlusion, hypocalcaemia, or skin disease. The lines are visible until the affected area of the nail has grown out and been trimmed away. In infants normally until the end of the first month of life.

Bibliography

  • J. H. S. Beau:
    Note sur certains caractères de séméiologie rétrospective présentés par les ongles.
    Archives générales de médecine, Paris, 1846, 10: 447-458.
  • J. C. Reil:
    Exercitationum anatomicarum fasciculus primus. De structura nervorum.
    Halle, 1796.

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