Anonychia is the absence of
fingernails or toenails, an anomaly which may be the result of a congenital
ectodermal defect,
ichthyosis
Ichthyosis is a family of genetic skin disorders characterized by dry, thickened, scaly skin. The more than 20 types of ichthyosis range in severity of symptoms, outward appearance, underlying genetic cause and mode of inheritance (e.g., dominant ...
, severe infection, severe
allergic contact dermatitis
Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a form of contact dermatitis that is the manifestation of an allergic response caused by contact with a substance; the other type being irritant contact dermatitis (ICD).
Although less common than ICD, ACD is ...
, self-inflicted trauma,
Raynaud phenomenon
Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, eponymously named after the physician Auguste Gabriel Maurice Raynaud, who first described it in his doctoral thesis in 1862, is a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries cau ...
,
lichen planus
Lichen planus (LP) is a chronic inflammatory and immune-mediated disease that affects the skin, nails, hair, and mucous membranes. It is not an actual lichen, and is only named that because it looks like one. It is characterized by polygonal, fla ...
,
epidermolysis bullosa
Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a group of rare medical conditions that result in easy blistering of the skin and mucous membranes. Blisters occur with minor trauma or friction and are painful. Its severity can range from mild to fatal. Inherited E ...
, or severe exfoliative diseases.
[James, William; Berger, Timothy; Elston, Dirk (2005). ''Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology''. (10th ed.). Saunders. .]
Congenital form
This is rare and is usually due to mutations in the R-spondin 4 (
RSPO4) gene which is located on the short arm of
chromosome 20
Chromosome 20 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. Chromosome 20 spans around 66 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 2 and 2.5 percent of the total DNA in cells. Chromosome 20 was fully sequenced i ...
(20p13).
[Khan TN, Klar J, Nawaz S, Jameel M, Tariq M, Malik NA, Baig SM, Dahl N (2012) Novel missense mutation in the RSPO4 gene in congenital hyponychia and evidence for a polymorphic initiation codon (p.M1I). BMC Med Genet 13(1):120] Clinically it is manifest by the absence (anonychia) or hypoplasia (hyponychia) of finger- or toenails.
See also
*
List of cutaneous conditions
References
External links
Conditions of the skin appendages
{{skin-appendage-stub