system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: The white discoloration that sometimes appears on my fingernails.
gpt
The white spots occur if the layers of the nail are not bonded together tightly, so there are little layers of air between them which makes them appear white. The most common cause for this is mechanical damage of the base of the nail (where the nail is produced by your body) or as a side effect of some diseases. Generally, those spots are nothing you should worry about. You also can't really do much about them other than wait for the spot to reach the end of the nail where it will be cut of.