Beau's lines ?

I have gotten those lines at various points in my life when I have gone through stress or trauma, either physical or psychological. My child got injured a few months ago and went into shock for a few minutes; she had a deep horizontal groove on every nail after that, which grew out in the usual nail-growth timeline. I think many of us with chronic illnesses have periods of extreme stress (usually of multiple kinds at once) and notice the results on our nails. Circulation issues, nutrient deficiencies, infections, and other factors relevant to Lyme can cause these. I think they're relatively common, even among the non-Lyme population.

Vertical ridges also can be common with aging. It's frustrating, but all my nail issues - ridges of all kinds, brittleness, curving and changing shape - have been dismissed by all of my doctors, including some good LLMDs. They say that fingernail changes could be a sign of illness (which we obviously know I have) but also could be nothing serious, so it's best to focus on more diagnostic symptoms and tests. I seem to figure out what's causing what over time; my nail shape is more consistent when I get enough iron, the brittleness lessens when I get more biotin, the Beau's lines are rarer when I am under less stress, the splinter hemorrhages only happen after I have a Reynaud's flare, etc. I think it's fair to assume that nail issues are not a good sign, but it's hard to tell what exactly they mean without a full picture.

I have very pale fingernails and doctors as well has dismissed it (I've worried about Terry's nails and have had thyroid and iron issues for a long time). When I had my dissection I had major dips in all of my nails. Once I healed from the dissection the dips went away. There has to be something to the fingernail issues but I've noticed (even with really good docs) they tend to dismiss it.