Serious Symptoms Of Subungual Melanoma

Bleeding Around The Nails

An individual with subungual melanoma may experience bleeding around the nails. The nail plate is attached to the underlying nail bed by skin components that form a tight seal. The skin that makes the seal between the nail bed and nail plate where the top free nail edge emerges is a vascular-rich and an extremely sensitive area referred to as the hyponychium. The perionychium is the skin around the nail that is prone to the annoyance of hangnails and can bleed easily. Anything that causes even mild irritation to these parts of the skin around the nail can cause inflammation. Subungual melanoma can cause bleeding around the nails through several mechanisms. Subungual melanoma is known to force the nail to grow in abnormal directions and become distorted. These irregularities can disrupt the healthy skin fold arrangement around the nail, resulting in inflammation and bleeding. Subungual melanoma is also known to cause the nail plate to become weak and brittle. The nail plate can easily split, break, and tear when it is in a weakened condition, and these injuries can pull on the skin surrounding the nail. As a result, the skin around the nail can become damaged and bleed.