Toenails, The Parts And Growth Pattern

Everyone has them!  But not everyone knows what exactly they are?   By definition, a toenail is the part of your toe that is produced by your toe’s living skin cells.

You’d think that what you see is what you get. However, you may not even realize it, but there are actually several different parts that make up your nails.  They are as follows:

• The nail plate, which is the part of the nail that you can see. 
• The nail bed, which is the area of skin that is located under your nail plate.
• The cuticle, which is the tissue that is found overlapping your nail plate and rimming your nail’s base.
• The nail folds, which are the areas of skin found on three side of the nail.  These folds act as a support and frame
• The lunula, which is the small, white area found at your nail’s base.
• The matrix, which is the part that is hidden beneath its cuticle.

Growth Pattern
When your nails grow, they do so from the nail’s matrix, made up of mostly keratin, which is a protein that is also found in hair and skin. When new cells in the matrix grow, the cells that have been there a while are forced out.

These older cells are in compacted form, which is also hard, flat, and familiar to us as a toenail.

When they grow, they often do so at an average of 0.1 mm per day. This means that in 100 days, your nail will have grown, on average, around 1 centimeter. However, you can’t necessarily always go by this number.

Each person is different and the rate in which his or her nails grow actually depends on several things, such as the season, as well as the person’s gender and age. In general, nails are known to grow faster in the summer, for males, and for those who are younger.

If you find that you cut your fingernails much more often that you do your toenails, don’t be alarmed. This is normal because fingernails grow much faster/

Care
As with other parts of your body, your nails should be taken care of and kept healthy. When healthy they should be pink and should also grow normally. Unfortunately, there are many ailments that can affect the health of your nails, and no one, regardless of age, is immune.

Common changes in your appearance can occur, such as the nail becoming brittle, thick, discolored, curved, clubbed, infected, grooved, or bumpy. The most common ailments are ingrown and fungal infections.

Should you find that your nails have change in appearance, and you aren’t sure what has caused this change, your best bet is to consult with a doctor. He or she can tell you what is wrong and what steps to take to fix the problem, either at home, with medication, or with on-site treatment.

As long as you take good care of your nails, they will remain healthy and look great as long as possible.

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™ Tanna Mayer 27/08/2007

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Toenails