How come when nail grow, the flesh under them doesn’t come forward along with the nail as it grows?

Question

Nails have a fleshy bottom layer attached to them that somehow doesn’t come forward with the nail as it grows, why is that?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Since no one seems to be answering the actual question…

Imagine you are on the playground and there is a set of monkey bars ([these things](https://images.app.goo.gl/YHzLCg8e58DshBr49)). But they are very special monkey bars. They are attached to a motor that makes them move (almost like a conveyor belt or a treadmill), and you can just stay in place swinging from one bar to the next as they move above you. If they move too fast you would be dragged along, but since they move slow enough, you have time to swing along and keep pace with the motor.

Similarly, your nail grows so slowly that the skin cells it’s attached to have time to adjust to the movement. That’s why the flesh doesn’t come forward also.