Your nails and hair are sending a message
Spoon-shaped nails, concave, curling upward at the edges, are a textbook sign of iron deficiency that most people mistake for a cosmetic problem. The condition is called koilonychia, and it shows up when iron stores drop low enough to affect the structural proteins in the nail bed. Alongside this, hair loss that goes beyond the usual seasonal shedding is a reliable early indicator. A 2013 study published in the Journal of Korean Medical Science found a significant association between iron deficiency and diffuse hair loss in women, even in cases where hemoglobin levels had not yet dropped to anemic range. The iron depletion precedes the anemia, which means your nails and scalp are flagging the problem before your CBC does.
