Library · Physiology
How a nail grows
Make it clearer
A nail does not grow from the tip: it grows from behind. The structure responsible is the nail matrix, the tissue hidden under the fold of skin at the base of the nail, and the plate, the hard, visible part, comes out of there.
What happens in there has a name. Keratinocytes, the cells that make keratin, flatten and lose their nucleus as they form the plate, and that lack of nuclei is exactly what makes the plate transparent. Think of a ribbon that keeps coming out from under the fold of skin.
The pace can be measured. Fingernails grow about 3 millimeters a month, and toenails about 1 millimeter.
Even the white half moon at the edge has an explanation: that lunula you can see through the plate is the distal part of the matrix, the part farthest from the body.
In brief
The nail matrix is responsible for the growth of the nail plate.
A ribbon that keeps coming out from under the fold of skin.
The matrix's keratinocytes flatten and lose their nucleus as they form the plate, and that lack of nuclei makes the plate transparent.
Fingernails grow about 3 mm a month and toenails about 1 mm.
The lunula, the white half moon visible through the plate, is the distal matrix.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Nail, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Nails, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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