why does the doctor look at my fingers?

Question

when i went to the doctor for a physical check the doctor looked my fingers, why did she do this

Answer 1

Because your fingernails and fingers can reveal health problems. If the nailbeds are blue, for instance, you may have cardiac problems. If the nails look rounded, that's called clubbing and indicates lung disease. If the fingers are swollen, that's called edema and once again, that's a cardiac problem.

Answer 2

Examination of the fingers can give subtle clues to many diseases. The fact that your doctor looked at your fingers suggests that your doctor has a good grounding in the basics of internal medicine and could be looking for any of the following:

Clubbing of the fingers - for chronic liver or lung diseases
Splinter haemorrhages - for endocarditis
Fungal infections of the fingernails - may occur more readily in states of impaired immunity
Anaemia
Peripheral Cyanosis

Capillary Refill time is a useful measure of how well blood is getting to the capillaries around the body and a slow capillary refill may indicate peripheral vascular disease.

Answer 3

Most probably to check if there was any swelling, and looked at your finger nails to make sure they were pink. Sometimes when people go into congestive heart failure or have lung problems, it can make the fingernails look "clubbed"...she may have been checking for that too.

Answer 4

she's checking for good blood perfusion, if you are anemic, meaning not having enough red blood cells to bring to your body..if she presses your finger nails and sees that they change color from pale to red, then you are fine-it means that you have enough red blood cells to bring oxygen to your body-also the nails indicate if you have any deficieny of minerals,chiefly calcium, if they are ridged or smooth..but those changes also occur with aging...if you are a chronic smoker, your finger nails do change shape: they appear clubbed/rounded at the ends...and of course will be discolored: yellow to brownish..

Answer 5

I think it's to visually check blood circulation. If there was poor circulation your fingertips would have a blue tint to them.

Answer 6

fingernails can hold clues to the body's problems, like blue "moons" can be a sign of heart disease

http://www.naildoctors.com/nail_health.html

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