Anonychia: Viral Image Of A Person's Hand Without Nails Shocks The Internet

An image depicting a rare medical condition is currently trending on the internet after a Reddit user brought attention to it. The viral image is of the hand of a person with the rare medical condition called Anonychia congenita.

The photograph depicts the odd appearance of a hand without fingernails. The condition affects both the fingernails and toenails of a person. In fact, it causes people to be born without nails on their fingers or toes and prevents them from ever developing any.

Check out the viral post below:

According to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the United States National Library of Medicine, anonychia (absence of nails) is a very rare congenital anomaly. It may occur as a single feature or as part of a syndrome. Nonsyndromic anonychia has been reported in either partial or total forms. Simple anonychia means congenital absence of the nails without any other coexisting major congenital anomaly, and is extremely rare.

"It is caused by a frameshift and nonconservative missense mutation in the exon 2 of the R-spondin 4 gene present on chromosome 20p13, which affects the highly conserved first furin-like cysteine-rich domain that plays a crucial role in nail morphogenesis, resulting in the absence of nails," the NCBI said.

There is currently no recognised or effective treatment for this medical condition. Artificial nails appear to be the only treatment option because there is a dearth of studies on the subject.