We all have them, we paint them, we care for them, yet do we know a lot about them? Here are a few fingernail facts to enlighten those of us that don’t know very much about our fingernails!
- The typical fingernail grows about 1/10th of an inch per month.
- It takes 6 to 9 months to grow a nail from cuticle to fingertip.
- Fingernails contain sulphur, as a result if they get burned, they smell very bad.
- Nails are very porous, ten times more so than skin, so they can easily become chapped.
- As you get older, your fingernails get thinner but your toenails become thicker.
- Changes in your fingernails may reflect changes in nutrient levels. The pink skin under the nail should round upwards and if it is pale rather than pink, you may be low in iron.
- If your nails are discoloured and are a yellow or green colour, this may signal a respiratory condition.
- Having ridges, groves or holes in your nail surface is common in those that suffer from psoriasis, a condition that makes scaly patches in the skin.
- White spots that appear on nails may be caused as a result of injury from dropping something on your hand or catching it in a door. There is a belief however that these white spots are caused by a zinc deficiency or a lack of calcium, but this is generally disregarded by doctors and dermatologists.
- If you have recently had a fever or inflammation, it may show in your nails by the appearance of ridges that run side to side. Sometimes these depressions can be very pronounced in people after they’ve had a heart attack.
- If your nails have ridges that run lengthwise, this is something that happens with age and more than likely does not represent a problem.
- The hardening of dead cells with a protein called keratin is what makes nails hard.
