Clubbing of Nails

Clubbing of nails. Clubbing, i.e. hippocratic nails. The nails are rounded in all directions and often the distal phalanges of the fingers are also swollen into so-called drumstick fingers. Hippocrates in his time already described this type of nail change in association with chronic pulmonary diseases. The phenomenon may also be totally idiopathic and consequently has no diagnostic value. In disorders confined to one or a few of fingers only, the possibility of a local blood circulation disorder or a subungual tumour should be kept in mind.

Picture: Raimo Suhonen (picture) and Suvi Cajanus (text)