Fingernails are made of a special kind of hardened skin cell. They are also full of a protein called keratin. They grow from a root that is below your skin at the base of your nail. As new cells are added to the base, your nail is pushed upward toward your fingertip. But by the time you can see your nail, the cells are no longer alive. That’s why it doesn’t hurt when you bite or clip you nails.
Although they are made of the same substance, fingernails grow faster than toenails. Fingernails also grow faster on longer fingers. So the nails on your short little pinky finger are usually the slowest to grow.
Most people value their fingernails when they need to scratch. But fingernails do more than stop an itch. Many scientists think nails help protect the end of our fingers. Fingernails also help us grip and pick up things. In fact, your nails might be helping you pop open a tasty can of your favorite soft drink.
Related: What are those little half moons in your nails?
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"How do fingernails grow?" was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 9:21 pm.
Some people clip them. Some people bite them. But fingernails just keep growing back.
What causes finger nails to grow fast?
Fingernails and toenails grow from a point near the roots below the skin, at the base of the nail where the nail is very thin. White in color, and half-moon in shape, this semi-circle is appropriately named the “lunula,” and comprises a group of cells that manufacture keratin, a dead, hoof-like protein. The keratin like protein produced, gathers and merges with the nail plate, the dead armor that protects the soft and tender nail bed underneath, and pushes the entire nail up and out. Though the fingernails and toenails grow an average of two inches per year, their growth slows with age, and the average adult’s fingernails grow only one inch over the course of eight months.
The base of the fingernails and toenails, as well as some of the nail along both sides of the nail, are embedded into the skin. Unlike other skin, this skin contains elastic fibers that connect it to the fingernail or toenail, and hold it firmly in place. The cuticle, a rim of skin over the lunula, protects it from bacterial infection, serves as a shock absorber, and shields the nail from any sudden impacts.
Though many consider dressing the fingernails up to go out a statement of beauty, or one of vanity, they serve those in the medical field as a diagnostic tool. Normally, the lunula, or half-moon, is white in color, indicating proper nutrition and good overall health. Blue lunula raise red flags that circulatory problems to the fingers may exist. Nails that are hard, brittle, and tend to split easily, may also be clues to poor circulation, infection, or disturbances of the glandular and nutritional systems.
Further nails that curl sharply around the finger point to coronary, liver, or lung diseases. Nails that are sunken in appearance often indicate anemia, a condition where an insufficient amount of oxygen is carried by the blood.
why do your fingernails have that white circle at the base?
it pushes the nail out. and helps it grow faster i think