Yellow nail syndrome (also known as "Primary lymphedema associated with yellow nails and pleural effusion") is a very rare medical syndrome that includes pleural effusions, lymphoedema (due to lymphatic hypoplasia) and yellow dystrophic nails. Approximately 40% will also have bronchiectasis. It is also associated with chronic sinusitis and persistent coughing. It usually affects adults.
Normal treatment for swelling and any respiratory problems is appropriate. Nutritional supplementation with Vitamin E in some studies has been shown to be effective in controlling nail changes.
Restated, yellow nail syndrome is characterized by marked thickening and yellow to yellow-green discoloration of the nails often associated with systemic disease, most commonly lymphedema and compromised respiration.
Although it has an OMIM number, it has been suggested that it might not have a genetic link.
There is some evidence it may be caused by titanium, either implanted for medical reasons or through eating various foods containing titanium dioxide. Most cases in which the source of titanium has been removed recover over a period of several months.
Famous quotes containing the words yellow, nail and/or syndrome:
“Tom: All right, boys. C’mon. Why don’t you say I’m a yellow belly and a big mouth at that?
Shep: You yellow? Who thinks you’re yellow? Did you hear what he said? A guy who’s got the nerve to marry? That’s more than Flash Gordon ever did.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.”
—Japanese proverb.
“Women are taught that their main goal in life is to serve others—first men, and later, children. This prescription leads to enormous problems, for it is supposed to be carried out as if women did not have needs of their own, as if one could serve others without simultaneously attending to one’s own interests and desires. Carried to its “perfection,” it produces the martyr syndrome or the smothering wife and mother.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)