Nails consist of several structures:

1. The nail plate. The visible part of the nail on the fingers and toes. This is what we mean when we refer to our “nail.” It’s firmly attached to the nail bed underneath.

2. The nail bed. The skin beneath the nail plate. This network of capillaries supplies the blood and gives the pinkish color to the nail plate.

3. The nail matrix. This is the most important structure of our nail; it is the hidden part of the nail unit where growth takes place. Made up of living cells that produce the nail plate, it is located beneath the cuticle. If this matrix is damaged, the nail will be distorted.

4. The lunula. The visible part of the matrix is called the lunula or “half moon” – the small, lighter-colored arc you usually see on your thumbs and big toes. The shape of the end of your nail plate depends on the shape of your half moons.

5. The cuticle. The cuticle is the fold of skin at the base of the nail plate. Made up of dead cells, it seals the skin to the nail to keep foreign substances from working their way into the narrow space between the skin and the nail.

6. Nail folds. The folds of skin that support the nail on three sides.

Nails will grow indefinitely if not cut or injured. They grow at different rates for everyone, depending on each person’s state of health. It takes about five months for a fingernail to grow from the cuticle to the end of your fingertip. It takes longer for a thumbnail and twice as long for toenails.

Here are some other trivia to nail you with:

• Nails grow faster in summer than in winter, faster during the day than at night, faster in men than in women, and faster in children than in adults.

• Nail growth slows down as we get older, and nails tend to thicken and become irregular.

• The middle fingernail grows the fastest, and the pinkie nail the slowest.

• If you are right-handed, your nails grow faster on the right hand and vice versa.

• Nails grow faster in nail-biters, typists, and piano players, which is convenient since they use them up faster!

• They grow faster in women who are premenstrual and who are in the early stages of pregnancy.

• Starvation diets slow down the growth of nails.

• Gelatin has absolutely no value in treating nails problems.

Despite what the horror movies would make you believe, nails do not grow after death. What seems like continued nail growth is only the drying and shrinking of the soft tissues around the nail plates.

We used to believe that the hardness of nails, like bones and teeth, was the result of their calcium content. Actually, there’s very little calcium in the nail plate, not enough to make a difference. So taking calcium supplements won’t help soft nails.

“Healthy” Nails and Nail Care

Actually, there is no such thing as a healthy nail. Since the nail plate is dead, it can’t really be healthy. But there are a variety of diseases and disorders that can affect the characteristics of your nails.

Everyone longs for healthy-looking nails, smooth and neatly trimmed. Healthy-looking nails have no grooves, ridges or pits, and no spots or discolorations. Nails, by nature, are hard and strong. But, like the skin and other body organs, they should be treated with gentle care.

Here are a few guidelines to help you grow and keep healthy-looking and attractive nails:

• Since nails are easier to cut when they’re soft, soak them in warm water for about 30 minutes before cutting and trimming them. File them when dry.

• Don’t overuse polishes, base coats and polish remover. They can cause nail problems and irritate your skin.

• Remove hangnails with clean, sharp scissors. Pulling or biting them can lead to infection.

• Treat your cuticles gently. Be careful when using cuticle-removing solutions since they can destroy tissue when left on too long. If you want to push back your cuticles, first soak your fingertips in warm water for about 20 minutes and then gently push them back using an orange stick. Remember that your cuticle is there for a purpose – to protect your nail. Tampering with it opens the door to harmful germs and possible infection. It’s a better idea just to leave your cuticles alone. If you wear rubber gloves, even the cotton-lined variety, always wear soft, cotton liners (Dermal gloves) inside them. When your hands are in hot water, they sweat and react with the chemicals from the rubber, plastic or vinyl in the gloves. This can cause problems for your skin and nails. A recent newspaper article warns of salon footbaths when having pedicures. Boils and ulcers of the toes in many women developed apparently from a microbe growing in a footbath used for pedicures.

• When gardening or doing other heavy work, protect your nails by wearing canvas gloves.

• To prevent chipping, peeling and tearing, and to keep your nails flexible, moisturize them. Soak them in water for 20 minutes and then apply an emollient cream, such as Elta or Cutemol.

• To strengthen nails, tap them -- on desks, tabletops and other surfaces.

• Do not to use your nails as a screwdriver, can opener, pliers, or telephone dialer (not a problem with push-button phones).

• To prevent ingrown toenails, cut them straight across, so that the edges of the nail don’t poke into the skin folds along the sides.

• Keep nails clean and dry to prevent bacteria and fungi from collecting under the nail.

Nail Cosmetics

Decorating the nails is a universal practice that’s been around since the beginning of time. Today, there are dozens of products and preparations to decorate, as well as to protect and repair the nails.

We have nail enamels, varnishes and lacquers; top coats, base coats and undercoats; nail conditioners, hardeners and whiteners; buffing creams; enamel removers and cuticle removers; cuticle creams and oils; pre-formed, plastic and gold press-on nails; sculptured and porcelain nail extenders; nail mending and nail wrapping kits.

While some of these products can make nails more resistant to damage, all of them could possibly cause irritation and allergic reactions. The dyes in nail polish can cause rashes on your eyelids, face, neck, upper chest, and even in the anal and genital areas – but almost never around your nails. The glues, resins and formaldehyde found in many nail products can irritate the nail plate and surrounding tissues and result in brittleness, discoloration, pain, lifting up of the nail, and infection.

Nail Disorders

The condition of your nails, like that of your skin and hair, depends on your general health. When your body suffers from infection, disease or dietary deficiency, the growth, texture and appearance of your nails can change.

The most common nail problems are caused by fungous infections, psoriasis, lichen planus, pigmentation, and allergies to nail cosmetics.

Sudden and serious physical stress, as from a tragic accident or a major surgical operation, may dramatically change the pattern of your nail growth. This happens because nail growth is expendable, which means that your body ignores it under severe stress. The growth of your nails may slow down temporarily or stop altogether. Weeks after your health has improved, you’ll be able to see transverse ridges on all your nails, showing the period when growth was interrupted. Other changes in your nails can be a sign of illness, injury, poor nail care or other factors.

Onycholysis is a separation of the nail (plate) from the nail bed. It is often associated with yeast and fungal infections, from nail cosmetics – base coats, frosted nail polish, topcoats – from injury to the affected nails from improper manicuring, from thyroid problems, diabetes, and a variety of internal disorders. Many medications are also responsible for onycholysis.

Brittle nails are nails that have lost their strength. They split, chip, crack and break off easily. Brittleness is usually due to the use of harsh household products, strong soaps and detergents, glues, cleaning solvents, furniture polish, and irritating and allergenic nail cosmetics (polish, removers, hardeners, etc.) The weather can also cause brittleness. When the relative humidity is very low, the water content of the nail is decreased, making the nail more rigid and likely to fracture. Finally, brittle and fragile nails can be a result of a protein deficiency, crash dieting, some illnesses and skin diseases. Also the aging process.

Nails can also develop ridges. These irregular bumps can run either along the nail’s length (longitudinal) or horizontally across the nail (transverse). Longitudinal ridges are often related to an anemic condition. Transverse ridges are usually caused by an inflammation of the skin around the nail due to skin diseases such as eczema and allergic dermatitis, or sometimes by an injury that stops the growth of the nail. As mentioned earlier, ridges can also mark the onset of a severe illness, infection, prolonged fever or surgery.

Another common condition is thickening of the nail. This happens on the toenails when you let them grow too long or wear tight shoes that cramp their growth. Thick nails are also associated with flat feet, obesity, and fungous infections of the nails.

Pitting and stippling of the nails are caused by a defect in the growth center (matrix) of the nail. These small indentations on the nail plate are often seen in people who have psoriasis, eczema or alopecia areata.

Thinning of the nails happens with anemia, thyroid disorders and protein deficiency in crash-dieters.

Spoon-shaped depressions in the nails can be a sign of anemia, as well as thyroid and other hormonal disorders.

Separation of the nail plate from the nail bed is a common condition. Each time you clean under your nail with a fingernail file or a toothpick, you cause a tiny separation between the nail plate and the nail bed. Repeated cleanings cause a dead space to form where moisture and germs collect and grow. The nail bed becomes infected, the nail plate separates from the bed, and the color underneath the nail changes from pink to yellow, green or black, depending on which germ has set up housekeeping.

Sometimes this happens from spending a lot of time with your hands in soap and water, as well as from injury, certain drugs, fungous infections, psoriasis, and thyroid disorders.

Pigmented (discolored) nails occur for a variety of reasons. Nails can become permanently stained from heavy smoking, and working with inks, shoe polishes, dyes and chemicals. Nail injuries and tight shoes can make your nails turn black due to bleeding beneath the affected nails. For example, athletes in track and field events, joggers, tennis and racquetball players, and dancers can develop blackened toenails from jamming their feet into the front of their shoes.

Certain diseases can affect the color of the nails. A patient with yellow nails, for example, should be evaluated for some systemic disease. A diffuse, bright red color of the nails may develop in patients with cardiac disease.

Fungal and bacterial infections, diabetes, and certain lung, liver and kidney diseases can all change the color of your nails. So can antibiotics, anti-cancer medication, sulfa drugs and other drugs. Lithium can induce a number of nail changes, including the appearance of transverse brown bands.

White spots are often seen on the nails as a result of rough manicuring, typing, filing and nail biting, as well as from nutritional deficiency, fungous infections, thyroid conditions, and anemia.

Nail breakage can occur from using the nails as handy tools. Nails are strong, but not as strong as screw drivers, can openers, and pliers.

Clubbing – a bulbous enlargement at the end of the fingers with exaggerated curvatures of the nail – is associated with several systemic diseases, notably congestive heart failure, emphysema, cirrhosis, and a variety of internal malignant tumors.

Paronychia is an infection or inflammation around the nail folds caused by bacteria or fungous germs. It can result from a nail injury, nail biting, and from keeping your hands in water for a long time. It’s a common problem for bartenders, waitresses and housewives (and househusbands).

Ingrown nails are a common nail problem, particularly on the big toes. This painful condition is often a result of tight shoes, improper nail trimming, or injury causing a corner of the nail to turn downwards into the skin. This disorder requires the attention of a dermatologist before infection sets in.

Fungal infections of the toenails make up about half of all nail disorders in the adult. Toenails are affected more often than fingernails, because they are confined in a warm, moist environment where they proliferate.

Warts often occur around and beneath the nail folds. They are often very difficult to treat, but a special method (see page 000) may get rid of them quickly and painlessly.

Treatment of Nail Disorders

The treatment of nail disorders will depend upon the type of problem you have and what’s causing it. Try to figure out and get rid of what you think might be responsible for the condition. Correct any general disorder or disease you may have, and eat a well-balanced diet.

For a continuing and stubborn nail problem, see your dermatologist. Remember, nails can be a mirror of other, more serious health problems.

• Our twenty nails are pretty important, and though we neglect and abuse them, they serve us for a lifetime.

• Made up of a protein called keratin, nails are specialized horny extensions of our skin. This protein has a high amount of sulfur and it’s the sulfur that makes the nails hard and rigid.

• It takes about five months for a fingernail to grow from the cuticle to the end of your fingertip. It takes longer for a thumbnail and twice as long for toenails.

• Brittle and fragile nails can be a result of a protein deficiency, crash dieting, some illnesses and skin diseases. Also the aging process.