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
The nail starts stacking up from the beginning, but the hyponychium (the skin just below the nail that completes the seal) stays mostly at the same place. However, I have a condition in which the skin does grow and the hyponychium may go past the nail. I may occasionally tear that skin when doing something with my hands.
Is anyone going to actually answer the question ?
Wheels. There are wheels there…
…I have a five year old. Okay, so the flesh that renews itself there is probably faster growing and so it works, LIKE wheels or a conveyer belt at the grocery store. Or your fingers unrolling the toilet paper roll, by the way don’t use QUITE that much paper, dear. ELI5, mom edition… have a happy day folks. Hope you laughed. 🙂
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.
Related question: Can I make so that the white part of the fingernail begins further out on the finger?
My fleshy bottom layer does grow with my nail, actually…but I have a condition called subungual hyperkeratosis. I have to cut off a bunch of skin every time I cut my nails, and if I’m not careful I can hurt myself.
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