Recently smashed my finger and lost the nail and it got me wondering what is the biological / mechanical / etc function / reason for fingernails? Sure it would be harder to grip little things, but is there a structural reason why our digits need these things?
EDIT: Follow up question. What is different about the skin underneath your nail that makes it so painful when initially exposed to air?
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I feel like that cringey feeling you get when you bend a nail or get something stuck under the nail must be evolutionary, it feels so awful because that’s nature telling us to stop doing that thing immediately because you need to keep your nails.
Not based on science just feeling 🙂
Everyone else already answered your first question but I want to address the second one. The skin underneath your nail is rich in nerve endings and blood supply. When your nail separated from the nailbed, it’s likely that it injured the sensitive skin. Also, exposure to air dries out the wound and a dry environment causes cell death, which leads to more of that painful stinging feeling. Luckily, the high blood supply also means the nailbed heals faster compared to other wounds
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