Nails also lose their luster during aging and may appear opalescent and dull. These nail changes are not indicative of serious disease and instead reflect the failing regeneration properties of an aging human body.
Conversely, the nails of individuals with onychorrhexis often have deeper ridges that can feel rough to the touch. This is because the folds in these nails are deeper and cause the nail surface to become uneven. These ridges are often accompanied by brittle nails prone to splitting and leaving behind jagged edges.
Longitudinal ridging can be caused by various medical conditions, including systemic amyloidosis, nail-patella syndrome, collagen vascular diseases, graft versus host disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Prognosis and accurate diagnosis can help in the treatment of longitudinal ridging. Depending on the precision of the treatment, the ridges may completely resolve in some cases.
Although affected nails will not change, new nails may be void of ridging if the underlying medical problem is resolved; however, this may not occur for six months up to several years. In addition, in some diseases, nail ridging may be a symptom that is difficult to eliminate.