Anatomy of the nail 101

Nail Anatomy part 1

Ever wondered about what the nail is made of? It's actually the same material as your hair too.

You see, our skin, nails and hair is made of a protein named keratin. The skin is made of soft keratin and our hair and nails are made of hard keratin. The difference between the soft and hard keratin is, when you cut your hair and nails, it doesn't hurt but getting a cut in your skin does.

Our nails protect the ends of our digits and they also help us pick up the thinnest of objects.  Some of us bite our nails, some like the acrylics, gel or porcelain falsies because we don't like the way they look, some wear them short and natural.  There's a lot that our nails endure on a daily basis all depending on the wear and tear of the work we do with them. The fact is, I've seen so many nails ruined, some temporarily, some permanently, on so many levels. Personally, I have had very short nails for the longest time out of convenience for work and my second passion, cooking.

Learning about the anatomy of the nail is important to understand different problems that arise with them all throughout our lives. It's good to know the elements and their function to better understand what is going on when problems do arise.

First we will take a look at the dorsal view of your nail:

Dorsal view of the nail

1. Free edge, also known as the free margin, is the part of the nail is growing beyond the fingertip.

2. Nail plate or nail body, is the part of the nail that is attached to the skin of your finger.  This plate is made of layers consisting of the ventral, intermediate and dorsal plates.

3. Nail root: this is where the nail actually begins to grow underneath the skin at the base of the nail.

4. Lunula: the pale, half crescent moon that appears at the base of your nail. This part is actually situated underneath the nail plate.

It seems that the lunula is not always apparent in everyone or on all the nails either for some reason and sometimes, lacking something in your diet or some chronic diseases will affect the appearance of it.

The nail consists of much more elements than meets the eye, stay tuned for part 2 of the anatomy of the nail. Till next time, remember to put your best foot forward and have a great day!