Friday, October 05, 2007

Vertical ridges in nails


Ridgy and brittle, that's nails after menopause. While these vertical ridges may be a 'normal' part of aging, either the ridgy nature of the nail or the underlying cause of the ridges makes for nails that break under ordinary circumstances such as brushing your fingertips on the wall as you switch on a light.

After noting how my aging not-so-goldilocks responded to local progesterone cream, I decided to try the same on my not-so-goodlooking nails. Now, 18 months into the experiment, only two of my nails remain beridged and bedraggled. All the other groovy spots have grown out, leaving the attractive oval nails of old that I had when I was young.

I used over-the-counter progesterone cream (Puritan is a good place to buy) for the nail purpose. I wonder if I might've seen quicker results with the prescription strength cream I use on my scalp.

5 comments:

Mauigirl said...

Thanks for the tip, my nails are starting to look just like that!

KGMom said...

So that explains my nail changes. Thanks. I thought maybe I was missing something in my diet.

Progesterone cream, eh? I will have to look for it.

tk said...

Found your blog through Fat Doctor, and I'm glad I did--I'll have to try that! (I was thrown into menopause by way of hysterectomy . . .)

Anonymous said...

I have strong ridges in nails, do you rub the progesterone into the nail bed?? also were you using the cream on your scalp for hair loss??

Thanks for the tips :-)

denverdoc said...

Kezza, I do rub it into the cuticles and around the tips. I use progesterone on my scalp as well, but I think (don't know for sure) that the over the counter stuff is not strong enough. I use a prescription strength cream with 50 mg/5 ml.