Today, one kidney disease patient chats with me and tells me that he has lower back, face and leg swelling.in addition, he also find that his fingernails and toenails look blue. He feel confused and have no idea the specific reasons about this symptom. Well then, can kidney disease cause blue fingernails and toenails?

As a matter of fact, blue fingernails and toenails are commonly seen in Nitrite salt poisoning, blocked respiratory tract. The blue fingernail is always associated with heart failure and emphysema. Currently, there is no evidence kidney disease can cause blue fingernails and toenails. But severe kidney damage also can induce numerous symptoms and complications, like anemia, anoxia and ischemia, cardiovascular disease and so on. That is to say kidney disease can affect patients’ fingernails and toenails indirectly. Then, how?

Anemia

For a healthy people, the bed of the fingernails should be light pink. If there is an iron deficiency or reduced blood cell production, the nails’ color will become pale. Unfortunately, anemia is one of common symptoms of kidney disease. The injured kidney can not promote the production of erythropoietin (EPO). Consequently, anemia occurs.

Anoxia and ischemia

The blue nails is mainly caused by anoxia and ischemia which are the performances of kidney disease. If there is not enough oxygen and blood to supply the body needs, it will bring many health problems, like serious organs damage, nerve damage as well as nails problems.

Heart failure

Severe kidney damage can induce the fatal disease--heart failure. Some clinical practices have shown that blue fingernails and toenails can occur when the kidney failure breaks out.

Through the above analysis, we can see that kidney disease may be a promising cause of blue nails. If you have blue fingernails and/or toenails, you should pay much attention to your physical condition, including kidneys’ condition. More details info, please talk with our doctors online or leave a message to renal-disease@hotmail.com