Eyes, Tongue and Nails - How do they signal health? (pics inside)

[Paleo Donk]

I'm sure there are many here that look at external signs as instant feedback of how your health is. I seem to be doing this more and more especially seeing that I don't trust my ability to feel certain changes within me and have significant trouble connecting any dietary input to anything else. What I can do, though is keep accurate records of my physical changes. I would assume a completely healthy individual would have perfect nails, teeth, tongue, eyes, hair, etc.. though I suppose the damage from previous diets may never be restored (organ removal and hair loss as obvious examples). But, perhaps eyes, nails and tongue would be easiest to show that health has improved dramatically. I don't know thats just a guess. Hopefully others can chime in their opinions and experiences.

I don't really know what eyes, nails and tongue are supposed to look like but I think mine are far off for now. Enjoy the pics!


I go back and forth on whether I have a white tongue. From a far with a quick glance it looks light pink and normal. But the closer I look at it the whiter it seems to me. Still looks off-color



Took a pic inside to see if it looked different.

Eyes - seems like there is a whole bunch of red and yellowish junk swimming around freely. I was told this was pinguicula which is apparently benign. Whatever it is its not pretty. The last pic was taken with a flash and the critters in my whites didn't show up but my iris looks fine, I think...




Fingernails - If you've read my journal you'll notice that I've complained about these quite a bit. The nails look weak off-color, small lunula (the little white moons at the base) and have vertical ridges. They seem to have improved this last couple weeks though, perhaps something to do with zinc supplementation.




Yes, I have a moustache, it makes me stronger.

[KD]

I think you are slightly trippin' on the tongue. Although all I can say definitively is mine is way worse, big crack down the middle that has healed somewhat and often furry white crap, especially after eating.

here are some shots of folks in poor shape:






the nails also from the photograph don't look bad either. Where have you read that 'small luna' is bad? Other than on my thumb, I have none and pretty much no cuticle. I was told that made for great hand modeling, of course that doesn't necessarily mean health. But my nails seem to be like dangerous hard weapons.

[ForTheHunt]

You're fine and you look healthy.

Stop obsessing..  Nobody has a perfect body with perfect health.

/thread

[Paleo Donk]

I agree that there are people in much, much worse shape than I am with respect to eyes, nails and tongue, but I don't care to compare myself to them. I'm looking for excellent health, not mediocre or average, which I could achieve with a few prescription drugs. Perhaps I should have put images of my tongue last, I've never really thought that my tongue looked bad, just that it wasn't quite right.

Now, my fingernails on the other hand - I check out other people's fingernails more than boobs now and I am easily in the bottom half of fingernail health (or whatever I think it is supposed to be). I almost always see at least 4 lunula per hand and don't think I've ever seen vertical ridges. My brother is the only person I know with worse fingernails than me. My lunula are also tinier than others except for my thumb. I'll post some shots here again in a few months. I don't think mine grow that fast, but this is very hard to measure. Color is likely important as well.

I also check out other people's eyes quite a bit as well and I rarely see people with as much junk in the whites as me. Like I said, perhaps its meaningless, probably not but I think it'd be extremely interesting having a collection of everyone's eye, nail and tongue data here.

[KD]

sure, nothing wrong with fine tuning, I was just curious where this criteria came from

I think brittle nails, discoloration, and slow growth rate are indicators for sure. As for ridges, its sort of hard to tell from the photo. are they raised? just the lines themselves on close inspection is just how they form IMO, or at least are super common. I'm not sure what one would see in perfect health, a completely smooth no grained surface? I can't see any lines from 1 ft away but up close with direct light I see lines, but they are totally smooth.

here is some other random diagnosis based on nails. under no moons it says possible underactive thyroid OR genetics. looks like the only one with that caveat

http://aaronjreid.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/entry-for-january-22-2007-2/

this healthy Mayo images has lines:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/medical/IM04199
and their opinion:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/medical/IM01720

[wodgina]

Totally healthy. My nails are the same as yours and my brothers. I've always had vertical ridges.

I would be worried about the moustache.

[Snamisolnsew]

Thank you for the informative posts.