How to Avoid White Spots on Nails

Excessive pressure while manicuring or a heavy blow to your nail can cause white spots to appear. Additionally, inadequate levels of zinc or calcium in your diet can also cause the formation of those pesky spots. Avoid white spots on your nails by following these simple steps.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Dietary changes
• Gloves

1. Improve your diet with plenty of calcium and zinc-rich foods. For people aged 16 years and over, the recommended daily intake of calcium is 800mg, and the recommended daily intake of zinc is 12 to 16mg. Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or post-menopausal need 1000 to 1200mg of calcium each day.

2. Be gentle when manicuring your nails, especially around the cuticle area. White spots can be caused by heavy prodding and poking beneath the cuticles.

3. Be gentle with your nails. Protect your hands with gloves when gardening or doing house work or any other kind of labor, and don't use your nails to do things like remove staples from paper or open a soda can.

Tips & Warnings

• Nails grow about half an inch per month so it can take up to eight weeks for the white spots to disappear, depending on where they are on the nail.

• Dairy products, fish such as salmon and sardines, and broccoli, kale and spinach are rich in calcium.

• Beef, lamb, sea food and legumes such as beans, peas and lentils are all good sources of zinc.

• Do not attempt to remove whit spots with nail discoloration treatments or by buffing your nails. The only way to remove the spots is to wait for them to grow out, and excessive buffing or overuse of nail treatments can weaken your nails.