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Mees' lines

**Mees' lines**
*Classification & external resources*
ICD-9	985.1

Mees' lines or Aldrich-Mees' lines are lines of discoloration across the nails of the fingers and toes.

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Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

1 Causes
2 Presentation
3 Eponym and history
4 See also
5 References

Causes

They appear after an episode of poisoning with arsenic,^[1] thallium or other heavy metals.

They can also appear if the subject is suffering from renal failure. ^[2]

Presentation

They are typically white bands traversing the width of the nail. As the nail grows they move towards the end, and finally disappear when trimmed.

Eponym and history

Although the phenomenon is named after the Dutch physician R.A. Mees,^[3] earlier descriptions of the same abnormality were made by the Englishman E.S. Reynolds^[4] and the American C.J. Aldrich in 1901 and 1904, respectively.^[5]

References

^ Hall AH (2002). "Chronic arsenic poisoning". Toxicol. Lett. 128 (1-3): 69–72. PMID 11869818.
^ Udayakumar P, Balasubramanian S, Ramalingam KS, Lakshmi C, Srinivas CR, Mathew AC (2006). "Cutaneous manifestations in patients with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis". Indian journal of dermatology, venereology and leprology 72 (2): 119–25. PMID 16707817.
^ Mees RA. Een verschijnsel bij polyneuritis arsenicosa. Ned Tijdsch Geneeskd 1919;1:391-396.
^ Reynolds ES. An account of the epidemic outbreak of arsenical poisoning occurring in beer-drinkers in the North of England and Midland Counties in 1900. Lancet 1901;1:166-70.
^ Aldrich CJ. Leuconychia striata arsenicalis transversus, with report of three cases. Am J Med Sci 1904;127:702-709.