Surgical excision is common and is a very effective mode of treatment.

Most instances of onycholysis without a clear cause will heal spontaneously within a few weeks. The most commonly recommended treatment is to keep the nail dry as much as possible and allow the nail to slowly reattach. Trimming away as much loose nail as can be done comfortably will prevent the nail from being pried upwards. Cleaning under the nail is not recommended as this only serves to separate the nail further. Bandages are also to be avoided. When kept dry and away from further trauma, the nail will reattach from the base upward (i.e., from proximal to distal).

If the underlying cause of the condition is not found and the nail continues to detach despite conservative treatment, the nail bed may begin to form a granular layer of abnormal cells on its surface. After six months of detachment, this layer is likely to prevent the adhesion of any new nail tissue, possibly leading to permanent deformity.

In racquet nails (also known as brachyonychia, nail en raquette, and racquet thumb), the nail plate is flattened, the end of the thumb is widened and flattened, and the distal phalanx is abnormally short. In racquet nails, the width of the nail bed and nail plate is greater than their length. The condition is painless and asymptomatic.

Racquet nails usually occur on one or both thumbs, but may appear on all fingers and toes. It may be genetic, inherited as an autosomal-dominant trait, or acquired. Genetic disorders associated with racquet nail include Larsen syndrome, Brooke–Spiegler syndrome, Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, Hajdu–Cheney syndrome, cartilage–hair hypoplasia, pycnodysostosis, acrodysostosis, and brachydactylia.

Acquired racquet nail is associated with acroosteolysis and psoriatic arthropathy. Acquired racquet nail may also be diagnostic of bone resorption in hyperparathyroidism.

Racquet nail often presents with other nail conditions such as onycholysis, koilonychia, pachyonychia, Muehrcke's lines, leuconychia, and half-and-half nails. Cosmetic surgery can be used to improve the appearance of the nails.

The treatment of an ingrown toenail partly depends on its severity.

Mild to moderate cases are often treated conservatively with warm water and epsom salt soaks, antibacterial ointment and the use of dental floss. If conservative treatment of a minor ingrown toenail does not succeed, or if the ingrown toenail is severe, surgical treatment may be required. A "gutter splint" may be improvised by slicing a cotton-tipped wooden applicator diagonally to form a bevel and using this to insert a wisp of cotton from the applicator head under the nail to lift it from the underlying skin after a foot soak.

Some recommend avulsion of the nail plate with surgical destruction of the nail matrix with phenol or the carbon dioxide laser, if the blood supply is good.

Severe congenital onychogryphosis affecting all twenty nailbeds has been recorded in two families who exhibit the dominant allele for a certain gene. Congenital onychogryphosis of the fifth toe (the little toe) is fairly common, but asymptomatic and seldom brought to the attention of medical professionals. Rather, it is brought to the attention of manicurists who routinely file the clawed toenail flat.

Dermoodontodysplasia is dental problems, trichodysplasia, and nail and skin problems.

Subungual exostoses are bony projections which arise from the dorsal surface of the distal phalanx, most commonly of the hallux.

Daily use of hand lotion or hand cream may help prevent the formation of hangnails.

For home treatment, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends washing the hands, clipping the loose piece of skin with a clean nail clipper or nail scissors, and applying over-the-counter antibiotic ointment if the area appears inflamed. Persistent hangnails should be evaluated by a physician.

Pterygium inversum unguis (also known as "Pterygium inversus unguis," and "Ventral pterygium") is characterized by the adherence of the distal portion of the nailbed to the ventral surface of the nail plate. The condition may be present at birth or acquired, and may cause pain with manipulation of small objects, typing, and close manicuring of the nail.

Hook nail is a bowing of the nail bed due to a lack of support from the short bony phalanx.

Malalignment of the nail plate is a congenital malalignment of the nail of the great toe, and is often misdiagnosed although it is a common condition.

Treatment for NPS varies depending on the symptoms observed.

- Perform screening for renal disease and glaucoma, surgery, intensive physiotherapy, or genetic counseling.

- ACE inhibitors are taken to treat proteinuria and hypertension in NPS patients.

- Dialysis and renal transplant.

- Physical therapy, bracing and analgesics for joint pain.

- Other surgery treatments such as patella realignment, joint replacement, and the cutting away of the head of radius.

In approximately half of suspected nail fungus cases there is actually no fungal infection, but only some nail dystrophy. Before beginning oral antifungal therapy the health care provider should confirm a fungal infection. Administration of treatment to persons without an infection is unnecessary health care and causes needless exposure to side effects.

Hangnails can become infected and cause paronychia, a type of skin infection that occurs around the nails. Treatments for paronychia vary with severity, but may include soaking in hot salty water, the use of oral antibiotic medication, or clinical lancing. Paronychia itself rarely results in further complications but can lead to abscess, permanent changes to the shape of the nail or the spread of infection.

Onychomatricoma is a cutaneous condition characterized by a distinctive tumor of the nail matrix.

This nail disease can mimic many nail problems and should be examined and biopsied by a dermatologist. In particular, a main concern is the malignant and destructive potential that may exist.

"Onycholysis" is from "onycho-", from Ancient Greek ὄνυξ "ónuks", meaning "nail", and Ancient Greek λύσις "lúsis", meaning "a loosening".

Beau's lines are deep grooved lines that run from side to side on the fingernail or the toenail. They may look like indentations or ridges in the nail plate. This condition of the nail was named by a French physician, Joseph Honoré Simon Beau (1806–1865), who first described it in 1846.

Beau's lines are horizontal, going across the nail, and should not be confused with vertical ridges going from the bottom (cuticle) of the nail out to the fingertip. These vertical lines are usually a natural consequence of aging and are harmless. Beau's lines should also be distinguished from Muehrcke's lines of the fingernails. While Beau's lines are actual ridges and indentations in the nail plate, Muehrcke lines are areas of hypopigmentation without palpable ridges; they affect the underlying nail bed, and not the nail itself. Beau's lines should also be distinguished from Mees' lines of the fingernails, which are areas of discoloration in the nail plate.

There are several causes of Beau's lines. It is believed that there is a temporary cessation of cell division in the nail matrix. This may be caused by an infection or problem in the nail fold, where the nail begins to form, or it may be caused by an injury to that area. Some other reasons for these lines include trauma, coronary occlusion, hypocalcaemia, and skin disease. They may be a sign of systemic disease, or may also be caused by an illness of the body, as well as drugs used in chemotherapy or malnutrition. Beau's lines can also be seen one to two months after the onset of fever in children with Kawasaki disease.

Human nails grow at a rate which varies with many factors: age, and the finger or toe in question as well as nutrition. However, typically in healthy populations fingernails grow at about 0.1mm/day and toenails at about 0.05mm/day. With this in mind the date of the stress causing Beau's lines and other identifiable marks on nails can be estimated. As the nail grows out, the ridge visibly moves upwards toward the nail edge. When the ridge reaches the nail edge, the fingertips can become quite sore due to the mis-shapen nail pressing into the flesh deeper than usual, exposing the sensitive nail bed (the quick) at the nail edge.

A researcher found Beau's lines in the fingernails of two of six divers following a deep saturation dive to a pressure equal to 305 meters of sea water, and in six of six divers following a similar dive to 335 meters. They have also been seen in Ötzi the Iceman.

Pure hair-nail type ectodermal dysplasia is a genetic mutation in the "hair matrix and cuticle keratin KRTHB5 gene" that causes ectodermal dysplasia of hair and nail type. Manifestations of this disorder include onychodystrophy and severe hypotrichosis. It represents as an autosomal dominant trait.

Melanonychia is a black or brown pigmentation of the normal nail plate, and may be present as a normal finding on many digits in African-Americans, as a result of trauma, systemic disease, or medications, or as a postinflammatory event from such localized events as lichen planus or fixed drug eruption.

There are two types, longitudinal and transverse melanonychia. Longitudinal melanonychia may be a sign of subungual melanoma (acral lentiginous melanoma), although there are other diagnoses such as chronic paronychia, onychomycosis, subungual hematoma, pyogenic granuloma, glomus tumour, subungual verruca, mucous cyst, subungual fibroma, keratoacanthoma, carcinoma of the nail bed, and subungual exostosis.

Median nail dystrophy (also known as "Dystrophia unguis mediana canaliformis," "Median canaliform dystrophy of Heller," and "Solenonychia") consists of longitudinal splitting or canal formation in the midline of the nail, a split which often resembles a fir tree, occurring at the cuticle and proceeding outward as the nail grows.

Thumbs, which are the most commonly involved, usually show an enlarged lunula resulting probably from repeated pressure applied on the base of the nail.

Subungual hematomas are treated by either releasing the pressure conservatively when tolerable or by drilling a hole through the nail into the hematoma (trephining), or by removing the entire nail. Trephining is generally accomplished by using a heated instrument to pass through the nail into the blood clot. Removal of the nail is typically done when the nail itself is disrupted, a large laceration requiring suturing is suspected, or a fracture of the tip of the finger occurs. Although general anesthesia is generally not required, a digital nerve block is recommended to be performed if the nail is to be removed.

Subungual hematomas typically heal without incident, though infection or disruption of the nail (onycholysis) may occur.

Tooth and nail syndrome (also known as "Hypodontia with nail dysgenesis," and "Witkop syndrome") is a rare disorder, first described in 1965, characterized by nails that are thin, small, and friable, and which may show koilonychia at birth.

It is associated with "MSX1".

Hanhart syndrome (also known as Aglossia adactylia; Hypoglossia-hypodactylia syndrome; Peromelia with micrognathia) is a congenital disorder that causes an undeveloped tongue and malformed extremities and fingers.