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The Newt Normal: How Will These Remarkable Animals Survive In Extreme Climates?

Anton Sorokin was hiking in the hills near his home in Berkeley when he came across a pond that was packed full of newts. For a couple of delightful hours, he watched the amphibians swim to the surface for a breath and then plunge underwater again. With a background in herpetology and wildlife photography, Sorokin took some pictures without any particular project in mind. He thought to himself, "Oh, what a great find!"

It was April 2020 and in the ensuing months, Sorokin occasionally drove the 30 minutes from his house to Briones Regional Park, then walked 45 minutes to the pond to see what was happening with the newts. As the season grew warmer, the pond shrank — a typical pattern during the hot, dry summers in this region of California. From his knowledge of the amphibians, Sorokin expected that the water would evaporate eventually and that the newts would strike out for wetter pastures, or else hunker down underground, where some moisture might linger.

When the first sprinkle of rain arrives in the fall, newts emerge from the ground to soak in the raindrops. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

By late July, however, the water in the pond turned from muddy brown to vibrant green. Sorokin noticed hundreds of newts sitting at the edge of the water, their heads poking out, seemingly deprived of oxygen by mats of algae. Normally, they absorb oxygen through their skin while swimming underwater, surfacing only occasionally for air, so this was weird.

Concerned, Sorokin returned frequently, sometimes several times a week. In a summer of wildfires and record-setting heat waves around the area, he watched the pond turn into a field of muddy cracks. Many newts shriveled up and died. When some rain finally came and moistened the mud in November, he watched some survivors hoist themselves out of the cracks and trundle past desiccated carcasses. The next day, all the living newts were nowhere to be seen.

Like many animals, California's newts are facing new challenges because of climate change, according to growing evidence. Although the animals evolved to deal with drought by delaying reproduction when conditions were extreme, the region has become drier for longer than in the past. These extended droughts and related wildfires are putting an unprecedented level of strain on the amphibians, says Lee Kats, an animal ecologist and conservation biologist who studies newts at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.

Surviving newts take refuge in the cracks left by the evaporated water in the pond. Occasionally, the newts will abandon their home in search of better conditions elsewhere, but many succumb to the heat as they traverse the dried mud. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) The pond is a magnet for wildlife in the area, attracting newts, birds, mammals, insects and other invertebrates. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) The bodies of the newts that didn't survive litter the ground. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

In recent years, researchers have begun to document deteriorating health in the animals, echoing a decline seen in amphibian populations worldwide. Projections suggest that things will get worse, emphasizing the need to rally around these often-overlooked animals and to help preserve their habitat. "For newts, a strategy that has worked for thousands and thousands of years is not going to work in this climate alteration that we're experiencing," Kats says. "And that's just an incredible tragedy."

After briefly considering whether he could bring buckets of water to the sickly newts, Sorokin decided the best way for him to help was to document what was happening. He kept taking pictures, hoping to draw attention to the challenges facing newts and other creatures in similar circumstances as a result of climate change. "I don't like seeing animals in a situation where there's no escape for them and where they're clearly in trouble," he says. "It's not just in far-off exotic locations that this sort of thing is happening. It's happening all around us. And the newts are one example."

As the first raindrops of the season hit the ground and permeate the cracked mud, survivors wriggle out into the open to bask in the rejuvenating moisture. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) The newts rely on rain to fill nearby ponds so they may reproduce. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

To those who know and admire it, the newt is many things: a marvel of longevity; a paragon of resiliency; a deadly vessel of poison; a model organism for regenerative medicine; a golden-eyed charmer of quiet charisma. Though newts share a flat, slithery body shape with lizards, they are amphibians (a type of salamander), not reptiles. They live an entirely different kind of life. Instead of the lizard's flighty speed, newts move slowly and deliberately.

Unlike lizards, newts can lose a limb, heart muscle or even the lens of an eye, and grow it back — a miraculous power that has drawn the attention of scientists working to find better ways of repairing damaged organs in humans. With lives that can last for decades, newts are in no rush, Kats says. They're chill and approachable, but armed with deadly toxins; they're also brave, often moving almost casually around much larger creatures. They're carnivores who live without fear. Their appeal is more subtle than the burly attraction of a polar bear or mountain lion. And that's what makes them so endearing to those who study them. "It's the charisma that comes with knowledge," says Kats, who knows them as well as anyone. "I may be too passionate about this animal, but I love it."

A close-up portrait of a newt. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) Once the pond contains water again, many of the returning newts are in visibly poor condition. Thankfully, a full pond hosts plenty of aquatic invertebrates for the newts to feed on. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

Out of 100 or so newt species around the world, four live in California. Three of them live in the Bay Area. The California newt (Taricha torosa), the kind that Sorokin observed on his hikes, has a range that extends to Southern California, where in the early 1990s, Kats started tagging them in a first-of-its-kind project. He wanted to gather basic information about the animals, so he captured a few dozen, anesthetized them and implanted rice-sized transponders — like the ones veterinarians use to identify pets—into their abdomens. Over time, the number of tagged newts has grown, allowing Kats and colleagues to recapture, identify and take measurements of individuals over time.

The results have provided key insights into the lives of newts, their extraordinary abilities, and also their vulnerabilities. Kats found that California newts reappeared around 15 meters of their last sighting, year after year, suggesting that they might not leave their habitats, even if the quality of that environment declines. The tags also revealed extremely long lives. Some of the newts with Kats's original tags from the 1990s still appear in surveys, and they were already adults when he marked them. It's not unusual, he says, for newts to live into their 30s and possibly even 40s — a remarkably long life expectancy compared to other amphibians. Many tree frogs live for only three to five years in the wild.

A group of newts gather to breed in a healthy pond. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

Over millennia, newts developed strategies for surviving California's notoriously variable weather, and a long life span was part of the deal, says Samuel Sweet, a herpetologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The animals, which spend most of their time on land, rely on streams or ponds for mating and laying eggs. Historically, when water dried up during periodic droughts, they could defer the energy-demanding task of reproduction for a few years. And even when the conditions were unusually dry, they could often still find water. Kats remembers how, 30 years ago, streams in Southern California continued to flow even during particularly dry periods. While longer droughts were already a concern then, he thought those perennial streams would help the newts persevere.

Starting around 2013, however, streams that seemed like they would flow forever started to dry up in the springtime for what Kats thinks may be the first time in recorded history. By then, he was collaborating in the tagging work with Gary Bucciarelli, a conservation biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose interests include the neurotoxins that newts harbor in their skin and how these chemicals affect other animals in the ecosystem. (Those toxins are so powerful they killed a 29-year-old man in 1979 after he swallowed an Oregon newt on a dare while under the influence of whiskey, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.)

Newts huddle around strands of vegetation where they attach their eggs. As a female lays her eggs, she will remain motionless as the coating surrounding the eggs absorbs water and solidifies to form a gelatinous sac. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) The developing eggs shortly after being laid. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) The newt embryos begin to take shape within a gelatinous case that helps keeps them safe from parasites and predators. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) These young newts are nearly ready to hatch. They will start life with external gills, which will gradually be absorbed as they mature. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

The scientists had expanded the newt research from LA's Santa Monica Mountains south to Orange County and San Diego, east to the San Gabriel Mountains, and north to the Bay Area, Mendocino County and the Sierra Foothills. As the water dried up around LA, researchers started detecting fewer tagged newts, Bucciarelli says. By the end of 2016, many of the newts that did come back to their streams were looking scrawny and unwell. "You could see their ribs, vertebra, the pelvic girdle," Bucciarelli says. "Things that you should not see in a healthy population."

To figure out what was going on, the researchers looked to their large and long-term data set, where they found that what they were seeing was more than a fluke. Between 2008 and 2016, they found a nearly 20% decline in a measure of body condition among California newts across 30 breeding sites in Southern California. That period of drastic deterioration in size was more rapid than other studies have documented in any other amphibian species, Bucciarelli says. It also coincided with record-setting high temperatures and what is thought to be the most severe drought in California in 1,200 years.

Although many adult newts are able to survive the drought and harsh conditions, the juveniles are less fortunate. These younger newts were unable to crawl the distance to the sheltering mud cracks. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

In Northern California, where climate records didn't show the same extremes, newts appear to have retained their body condition during the same period. But with modeling, the team predicted that droughts and related declines would soon catch up to newts and other amphibians in the Bay Area and other parts of Northern California. Newts once inhabited 10 streams in the mountains above San Diego, Sweet says. Now they occupy only three of those streams. In Orange County, he estimates half the newt streams that existed in the 1960s are gone because of drought and development. "What we're seeing in LA and San Diego counties, those are going to be the conditions sometime in the not-too-distant future in San Luis Obispo County and Monterey County," he says.

California newts in Southern California are already classified as a species of special concern by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, an acknowledgment of their vulnerability, although they are not yet listed as threatened or endangered. As environmental stress becomes relentless, experts worry it may be hard for them to hang on. "These newts down here have adapted to deal with drought. That's part of our climate here in Southern California landscapes," Bucciarelli says. "But what they haven't evolved to deal with is drought simultaneously combined with record warming temperatures, and that's a result of climate change. Now, a double threat is occurring."

After the pond refills, newts return and their breeding season begins. Mated females attach egg masses to submerged vegetation while males wander around looking for mates. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) A pair of submerged newts conserve energy and remain motionless as the gelatinous matrix surrounding their eggs solidifies and attaches to the vegetation. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

By the time Sorokin was visiting his newt pond in Berkeley in 2020, COVID-19 had upended life for humans, and California's newts appeared to be experiencing a pandemic of their own. In addition to newts with protruding hip bones and lack of fat stored on their bodies that Kats and Bucciarelli noted, researchers started finding newts with tail lesions so severe that muscle and skin had worn away to expose the tips of their tail bones. Some animals had clouded eyeballs that looked like cataracts. The animals also acted strangely, whirling around in circles. It was the first major disease in Southern California newts in 30 years, Kats says.

Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey euthanized an emaciated newt to investigate what had sickened it. The researchers found numerous issues, they wrote in a September 2021 report, including lungworms, inflammation in the inner ears, and parasites in its intestinal tract. Yet no single cause could explain all the symptoms. Kats suspects that extended dry spells and high temperatures may have weakened the amphibians' immune systems, making them more vulnerable to several ordinary infections. "I'm absolutely convinced," he says, "that the conditions they were experiencing contributed to this major disease outbreak."

As the newts are stranded, they become more susceptible to various threats. Although the newts are poisonous, some predators like this garter snake are still able to eat them. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

Strange illnesses and dry streambeds aren't the only challenges facing newts. Invasive crayfish, somehow unfazed by the newts' toxins, have been spreading in California lakes and decimating newt populations by feeding on egg masses and larvae. Blooms of cyanobacteria may be another problem: These photosynthetic microorganisms, which produce a variety of toxins of their own, have been proliferating in lakes around the world, a trend linked to warming temperatures, among other factors. In the first assessment of two Southern California lakes, published in 2021, a group of researchers from several universities and government agencies found the highest concentrations ever recorded in the region of three cyanotoxins, which have been linked to health issues in people and wildlife, including amphibians. Sorokin suspects that a cyanobacteria bloom explains the greening of that pond near his Berkeley home.

Traffic is another concern. Generally unconcerned with predators because of their poisonous skin, newts move slowly, as if they don't have a care in the world, Kats says. After spending much of their lives in the woods and waiting on average five years, sometimes longer, to become sexually mature, they often must cross busy roads to get to streams for mating. Drivers don't usually see them — or else they don't stop. One of Sweet's graduate students visited a study site in San Luis Obispo one day after it rained and counted more than 100 road-killed newts. "The average newt there might be 25 or 30 years old," Sweet says. "They get all ready to breed: 'I'm going to walk down to the creek and lay my eggs for the first time tonight.' Squish. They get run over 10 minutes before they do that."

As the pond shrinks and temperatures remain high, the water turns to a slurry of toxic blue-green algae and cyanobacteria. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) Newts line the edges of the pond with their heads raised above the algae and cyanobacteria to breathe. Although conditions in the pond are noxious, the newts choose to remain — likely because the heat away from the moisture is simply too dangerous. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

Habitat fragmentation makes it harder now than in the past for newts to cope with harsh conditions, Sweet adds. When newts experienced changes to the climate in the past, they were able to rebound and expand their range again when conditions improved. But they can't come back if there isn't a connected population to replenish them.

Altogether, the cards can seem stacked against a species that has endured its share of environmental stress for thousands of years. "The stuff that amphibians like newts are facing is kind of death of a thousand cuts," Sweet says. "It's not any one thing. It's not drought, it's drought and getting run over when you're 25 years old and half an hour away from laying eggs for the first time. It's having your eggs die because a septic tank has overflowed and the stream is full of salt. It's getting eaten by a raccoon that's wandering up and down the creek because somebody has garbage out and there are too many raccoons, and the road department wanted to widen the road and fill in the stream with boulders. It's all this stuff."

A newt pokes its head above the algae and cyanobacteria. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

Despite all they're up against, it's not too late for newts, Kats says. Some environmental groups have mobilized to help newts around the world, including in California. In the hills north of San Francisco, volunteers with the Chileno Valley Newt Brigade spend winter nights picking up the amphibians as they make their way to or from their breeding sites, carrying them across roads to protect them from cars. Along the East Coast and in parts of Berkeley, roads frequented by newts are closed annually for the same reason.

Some of the most promising strategies for protecting newts focus on improving and protecting their habitats and ecosystems and, with them, biodiversity more generally, Bucciarelli says. One major effort in the works is California's 30×30 initiative, an executive order signed by the governor that has a goal of conserving 30% of the state's land and coastal waters by 2030. Because amphibian habitats span much of the state's land and watersheds, they stand to benefit substantially from the plan.

Habitat protection includes human intervention to mitigate disaster and destruction. Multiple studies in Europe have shown that enlarging and deepening ponds can lead to rapid and major increases in populations of newts, frogs and toads — a technique that could be useful for removing silt after wildfires, as well. Researchers have also found value in "newt hotels," human-made piles of stones covered with soil and fabric that mimic the kinds of environments the animals use to overwinter in harsh conditions. And in California, government agencies are actively working to create freshwater ponds that are free of invasive species, such as crayfish, to replace what amphibians have lost.

A dead newt in cupped hands. This one succumbed to the heat. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic) A live newt in cupped hands. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

The California Conservation Genomics Project is another statewide effort to protect amphibians and other creatures, not by protecting habitat but by protecting genetic diversity. The government-funded project aims to sequence the genomes of more than 230 animal and plant species, including some amphibians and reptiles — as a way to identify areas of high and low genetic diversity that should be the focus of conservation work. The newt is not on the sequencing list in part because its genome is gigantic and intractable, Bucciarelli says. But the initiative, which has a goal of producing "the most comprehensive, multispecies, genomic data set ever assembled to help manage regional biodiversity," focuses on creatures that share newt habitat. Those animals — and newts — would ultimately benefit from any resulting changes and protections.

Disease surveillance should help, too, by detecting emerging illnesses before they can spread. In the United States, the USGS has set up a nationwide program to check newts and other amphibians around the country for signs of a fungal infection that has devastated European salamander populations.

Efforts like these may give newts a fighting chance to do what they do best: persevere. Because newts are so long-lived, seemingly small measures could help them wait out poor conditions until favorable years return, and with those years the right conditions for mating, experts say.

A male newt migrates toward a pond during the breeding season. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

Sorokin has seen this potential for redemption in his Berkeley-area pond over the past two years. When Northern California finally got a real rainy season in late 2021, the pond refilled again. Since then, he has observed plenty of healthy newts and lots of breeding activity. When they come up for air, they sometimes let out a little squeak. Seeing them return has filled him with relief — and also trepidation. He worries about the next dry season and the next generations of newts. He takes photos, he says, to spread his love for newts to a wider audience, and to convince people to care about this animal that doesn't get its fair share of headlines about the impacts of a changing climate.

As we move deeper into the Anthropocene, more humans need to embrace our role in protecting such animals, and we need to start now, says Bucciarelli. We put them in this predicament. It's up to us to get them out of it. Solving the puzzle of how to help newts could have benefits far beyond one amphibian, he says — creating a road map for how we deal with many other biodiversity issues on a hotter, drier planet.

"There are so many dedicated, talented and passionate people working collaboratively to come up with viable solutions. We can't fix the problems of drought. We can't make it rain. But we can figure out ways to manage populations so that they have the highest probability of persisting through this really stressful time," Bucciarelli says. "I have a lot of hope."

A male newt holds on tight to a female during a mating event. (Anton Sorokin/bioGraphic)

This story originally appeared in bioGraphic, an independent magazine about nature and regeneration

These 9 Things Could Be Making Your Nails Yellow, Dermatologists Say

As simple an issue as yellow nails may seem, it can be tough for even experts to pinpoint the cause.

"Every time somebody comes in with a nail change, I put on my super-sleuth hat," Dr. Kristen Lo Sicco, associate professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, tells TODAY.Com.

The first thing to figure out is whether a patient's yellow nails may be due to some external factor causing staining or if they're a sign of an internal issue, like a nail infection, she says.

"You always want to rule out things that are on the outside and can be easily solved," agrees Dr. Shari Lipner, an associate professor of clinical dermatology at the Weill Cornell Medical Center. Common causes of yellow staining, like nail polish, food and smoking, are typically temporary and begin to correct themselves when that external factor is removed.

But infections and other health conditions that can cause yellow nails tend to cause other noticeable symptoms, like pain, nail thinning or thickening, and lifting of the nail, the experts say. And they won't go away on their own without treatment.

Figuring out what's causing your yellow nails — and the right way to treat them, might require a trip to the dermatologist. But, because yellow nails can be a sign of some serious issues and may require prescription treatment, it's worth the effort.

Many things can cause nails to turn yellow, including nail polish stains and underlying health conditions.Quim Roser / Getty Images/Image Source Common causes of yellow nails and how to treat them: Yellow dyes and pigments

This one might seem obvious, but it's worth noting that people who work with yellow pigments — such as people who paint — may notice temporary staining on their nails, Lipner tells TODAY.Com.

Treatment: When nails are stained, it's usually a temporary issue, Lo Sicco says. But, she adds, keep in mind that it typically takes six months for fingernails to completely grow out and 12 months for toenails. So it may take a while for the problem to completely correct itself.

"Sometimes using keratolytic creams that exfoliate, like a urea cream, can help," Lo Sicco says. "But you want to be careful because you don't want to thin out your nail too much," she adds, noting that there isn't much research on using these products, also sometimes called nail brighteners, to help with yellow nails.

Cooking with certain foods and spices

Figuring out what might be causing the issue often requires talking to the patient about their habits, such as what they've been cooking recently.

"Some things you cook with — like turmeric — I've seen turn patients' nails yellow," Lipner says.

Treatment: Again, staining like this is typically temporary and milder stains may start improving within days. Once you know which ingredients stained your nails, you can wear gloves next time you cook with them to avoid more staining, Lipner suggests.

Red nail polish

Experts don't totally understand why, but some red nail polishes can leave behind a yellow stain, Lo Sicco says.

"For some reason, using some of the red polishes for a longer period of time can cause staining," she explains. "Fortunately, when it's due to a polish, that's something that's reversible and not a permanent state."

Treatment: Nail polish remover is a good first step, Lipner says. And, in the future, using a base coat when painting your nails a reddish color can help prevent staining.

Smoking

"Smoking can tarnish the nails and cause yellow nails," Lo Sicco says. Research suggests this is due to the nicotine in cigarettes staining the nails and skin.

Treatment: While staining will generally go away over time, that's not necessarily the case if your yellow nails are due to smoking, Lo Sicco says. In this situation, the discoloration will continue as long as you keep smoking cigarettes. "That's yet another reason to stop smoking," she says.

Fungal infection

A fungal infection called onychomycosis is probably the most common cause of yellow nails that dermatologists see, Lipner says.

If your yellow nails are due to a fungal infection, you'll likely notice other changes to your nails, too, Lo Sicco explains. "Sometimes they can have a nail that lifts up off the nail bed or they might have an abnormal nail where it's flaky and brittle," she says.

But don't be surprised if your dermatologist takes a nail sample to confirm what's going on, the experts say. "If nail fungus is suspected, then taking a nail clipping and sending it for a culture is very standard practice," Lo Sicco explains.

"No doctor can make a diagnosis just by looking at your nails," Lipner agrees.

Treatment: You'll need to see your doctor or dermatologist to treat a fungal nail infection properly. And you will likely need prescription antifungal treatment.

Over-the-counter antifungal medications, like those meant to manage athlete's foot, can help — to a degree. The fungus that causes athlete's foot is usually the same one responsible for nail infections, Lipner says.

You can apply an over-the-counter antifungal to the feet and in between the toes to help tackle skin symptoms, but "it won't work on the nails," she says. "There's no over-the-counter product that will treat the nails if you have a fungal infection."

Nail psoriasis

The inflammatory condition psoriasis can affect the nails, Lipner explains. When psoriasis occurs on the skin, it can lead to changes in the nails as well, "but you can have nail psoriasis without having any skin (symptoms)," she says.

In people who just have nail psoriasis, the nails may be yellow, lifting from the nail bed and quite painful. You might also notice pitting (small notches) on the nails and nearby joint pain or arthritis, Lipner says.

Treatment: Nail psoriasis requires prescription medications, which can include a combination of corticosteroids, treatments derived from vitamin D treatments or vitamin A (retinoids), laser treatments and more, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

Basic nail care strategies, like keeping your nails short and wearing gloves when doing housework, can help too, the AAD says.

Chronic paronychia

Paronychia refers to inflammation of the skin folds around the nail that's frequently due to injury or bacterial infection. When paronychia develops, "often you lose your cuticle, and the nail may turn to yellowish color," Lipner says.

This condition occurs more frequently in people who have jobs where they wash their hands often, including bakers and stay-at-home parents who may be washing a lot of bottles, she explains. It's also common among doctors, nurses and other medical staff who rinse their hands many times every day.

Treatment: Mild cases of paronychia may be managed at home, Cleveland Clinic says, with warm water soaks that help drain pus. But if your nail isn't getting better after a few days, or you find that you develop these issues frequently, you should talk to your doctor or dermatologist.

Prevention is key for chronic paronychia, Lipner says, and the most challenging part of that is avoiding irritants when washing your hands or doing dishes. "Every time you're washing dishes, you want to use gloves," she says. It's also important to keep your skin and nails moisturized, she adds.

Retronychia

This condition is a type of paronychia that generally occurs more often on the toenails than the fingernails, Lo Sicco says. "Not only can the nail become yellow in color, but it will stop growing," she explains. From there, the nail might layer on top of itself and become ingrown.

Treatment: Retronychia is often due to repeated minor trauma, like wearing too-tight shoes that restrict the nail while jogging or playing sports, research suggests. So the first step is to correct the underlying trigger.

From there, early treatment might include corticosteroid medication, as well as taping and strategic clipping of the nail. In the later stages, though, studies suggest that surgical removal of the nail plate is an effective treatment. If you think you may have retronychia, it's important to get evaluated by a board-certified dermatologist to figure out the best course of treatment.

Traumatic onycholysis

If someone has onycholysis, that means the hard part of the nail plate is separating from the underlying nail bed, Lipner explains.

"We see this often in people who get frequent manicures and keep their nails long," she says. "And, because air gets trapped under the nail, they often have a yellow tinge to them."

Treatment: If your nail lifting is due to another condition, like a fungal infection, treating that will help correct the onycholysis.

For people with onycholysis due to trauma, "it helps to be gentle with the nails and keep them short," Lipner says. "If you are having manicures, all the filing should be gentle. Don't have anyone cut your cuticles. Don't push back your cuticles," she adds. "This all makes everything worse."

Yellow nail syndrome

Rarely, yellow nails can be due to a condition called yellow nail syndrome. "Literally all the nails turn yellow," Lipner says. "And once you see it, you just never forget it."

The nails may also be very curved and painful with a loss of cuticles. In people with yellow nail syndrome, the nails also tend to grow very slowly or not at all, Lipner says. "And typically all of your nails are involved," Lo Sicco says, not just one nail or a few.

Because yellow nail syndrome can be associated with lymphedema and lung issues, it's important to be aware of the signs and see a dermatologist quickly for an evaluation if you think you may have the condition, Lipner explains.

"Sometimes these yellow nails are the first indication that there's a systemic problem," she says.

Treatment: Managing yellow nail syndrome can include the use of corticosteroid medications, antibiotics and vitamin E supplements, the Cleveland Clinic says.

But because yellow nail syndrome may be connected to another underlying condition, your doctor will likely want to perform other diagnostic tests to see what's going on. If your yellow nail syndrome is fueled by another condition, they'll want to treat that condition, too.

When to see a doctor for yellow nails

The right way to treat yellow nails depends on what's causing the issue for you. If you can identify an outside factor that may be responsible for your yellowing nails, like nail polish or food, then the yellow color is usually temporary.

For some issues, including those caused by fungal infections and psoriasis, you'll likely need an evaluation from a dermatologist to figure out what steps to take.

If you're dealing with other nail issues, like onycholysis or paronychia, your dermatologist will likely give you tips to care for your nails properly, Lipner says. They may suggest you keep your nails short, avoid cutting or pushing back your cuticles, being gentle during manicures and wearing gloves to protect them from soaps, detergents and water.

Within a few days, it will become more obvious whether or not you're dealing with something you can manage at home, Lipner says. Over the course of a few months, you can keep an eye on new nail growth — and whether or not it's growing in yellow — for another clue about what might be going on, Lo Sicco says.

"But if something is persistent for months, it's probably not going to get better," Lipner says, "and it's important to see a board-certified dermatologist."

Teamsters Issue Strike Notice At Yellow

The Teamsters say the carrier has until Sunday to pay up. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Shortly after less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp. Said Tuesday it would go through with plans to defer required contributions to funds managed by Central States Funds, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued a strike notice.

The notice said a work stoppage could occur as soon as Monday.

"Yellow has failed its workers once again and continues to neglect its responsibilities," said Sean O'Brien, Teamsters general president. "Following years of worker givebacks, federal loans, and other bailouts, this deadbeat company has only itself to blame for being in this embarrassing position."

On Monday, Central States issued a delinquency notice to plan participants working at Yellow (NASDAQ: YELL) operating companies YRC Freight and Holland. The letter said the companies had deferred health and welfare and pension contributions due this past Saturday and would do the same for payments due August 15.

"The Company advised Central States Funds that it would defer payment of health and pension contributions for June (due July 15) and July (due August 15) to preserve liquidity as it worked to obtain meetings with the IBT [International Brotherhood of Teamsters] as well as secure additional financing," a Tuesday evening statement from Yellow read.

The combined payments total $50 million for the two-month period.

A recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed Yellow had in excess of $100 million in cash as of June 30.

Yellow has said it will repay the amounts with interest in the future.

If unpaid, the carriers' participation in the pension plan would be terminated on Sunday and health care claims incurred by employees after Saturday would not be paid.

Employees have the option to pay for health care out of pocket. In a separate notification, Central States said the cost is $471.86 per week through July 29. The amount increases to $507.08 per week after that. Payments must be received by August 23.

Yellow and the Teamsters have been unable to reach an agreement on operational changes that the carrier says are necessary for it to remain in business.

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The Teamsters statement said the company has until Sunday to make the payment.

"Yellow has a responsibility and obligation to workers. Our members should not suffer because of management's incompetence and financial irresponsibility," said Fred Zuckerman, Teamsters general secretary-treasurer. "The Teamsters are working with our local unions, and we will continue to regularly update members as this situation unfolds."

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden

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