A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; furthermore:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Nails In exogenous (external) nail formation disorders:
- Nail bed hematoma (bruise under the nail, leads to black discoloration of the nails).
- Leukonychia striata or Mees stripes (white horizontal stripes).
- Leukonychia punctata (punctate white coloration).
- Onychogrypose (claw nails)
- Longitudinal grooves of the nails can occur after frequent injuries or blunt damage
- Brittle nails
In endogenous (external) nail formation disorders:
- Eczema nails
- Nail fold changes
- Nail dystrophy (completely destroyed nail plate)
- Nail loss
- Beau lines (transverse grooves of the nails)
- Spoon nails (nails that are transversely and longitudinally concave, resembling a spoon shape).
- Watch glass nails (the nails are distended piston-shaped because of the thickening of the finger end links, larger, roundish in shape and strongly curved outward).
- Yellow-nail syndrome (yellowish discolored nails).
- Half-and-half-nails (nails half brownish-red and white).
- Melanochia striata (brown, striped longitudinal coloration – this necessarily clarified by a doctor, as it may be a tumor under the nail, such as malignant (malignant) melanoma).
- Sclerae (white part of the eye)
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart [congenital heart defects, valvular heart defects].
- Auscultation of the lungs [due todifferential diagnoses: asbestosis (pneumoconiosis (dust lung disease) belonging to the lung disease caused by inhaled asbestos dust); bronchiectasis (synonym: bronchiectasis; permanent outpouchings of the bronchi, which can occur congenitally or acquired as a result of inflammation); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)]
- Nails In exogenous (external) nail formation disorders:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Dermatological examination including dermoscopy (reflected light microscopy) [due todifferential diagnoses:
- Alopecia areata (circular hair loss).
- Atopic eczema (neurodermatitis)
- Dystrophia unguium mediana canaliformis (hereditary nail growth disorder).
- Eczema (skin inflammation associated with pruritus (itching) and erythema (areal redness of the skin).
- Lichen ruber planus (nodular lichen)
- Paronychia congenita (genetic disease of the nails associated with other hair abnormalities such as hyperhidrosis (increased sweating) and changes in the mucous membranes).
- Psoriasis (psoriasis)
- Vitiligo (white spot disease)]
- Cancer prevention
- Health check
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.