Transverse Nail Ridging, Or the Dangers of Putting Faith in Prominent Neonatologists

Abstract

In the May 1968 issue of Pediatrics you published an observation on transverse nail ridging in early infancy that I felt was original. However, subsequent correspondence, revealed that Dr. Bela Schick first described these ridges in 1908 (Jahrb. Kinderh., 67:146). This fact was kindly brought to my attention by Dr. Maarten S. Sibinga, who published observations on growth of fingernails in Pediatrics (24:225, 1959). It is obvious, therefore, that this observation was known to some neonatologists and careful observers for some time.