Do clubbed nails disfigure the finger or toe ?

I can't figure out what exactly a clubbed nail is or looks like.





From the photos I can find, it looks like the nail is almost glued down and wrapping around the finger. It looks like the finger (or toe?) has swollen up.





I read that for clubbed fingernails the fingers resembles a drumstick.





This doesn't make any sense to me.





Do the nails get distorted which then pulls the shape of the finger and leaves it difigured? Or is clubbing more subtle ?Do clubbed nails disfigure the finger or toe ?
Digital clubbing is an anatomical change. They think starts in the nail bed, but it is one of those things that everyone knows it when they see it, have a good general idea what it means when they see it, but have no real explanation for why it happens. It is usually a symptom of : Inflammatory bowel disease, pulmonary malignancy, asbestosis, chronic bronchitis, COPD, cirrhosis, congenital heart disease, endocarditis, atrioventricular malformations, fistulas, cystic fibrosis, Crohn's disease, etc.


The strange thing is that it can be just one digit, or the whole hand. I seem to remember thinking that the nail was a bit looser on people with digital clubbing, but it has been a while since I have seen anyone with it since I am no longer working with adults. (though you can see these with children).


Please go here for a good website about clubbing, go to pathophysiology :


http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/11鈥?/a>