Nails
The nail is a hard, horny, plastic formation on the skin of the tips of the toes and hands. Nail growth occurs from the bursal depression of the epidermis on the dorsum of the toes and hands.
The formation of the nail occurs in its matrix (root), which is a special tissue that occupies the lower part of its bag. The area of the matrix is adjacent to the nail bed, located distal from the body, with which the lower surface of the nail plate is firmly combined from the longitudinal ridges to hyponychia. Hyponychium is the dorsal area of the epidermis between the nail bed and the tip of a finger or toe. The nail fold is the area of the skin fold that covers the nail laterally and proximally.
The epithelial skin that adheres loosely to the nail is called the cuticle.
In its natural state, the nail has a pale pink color, except for the half-moon area, which is white. The reason for the light color of the well is the more intense activity of cell division in this area, weaker supply of capillaries and the formation of intracellular keratohyalin. Depending on the individual characteristics of a person and age, the thickness and size of the nails can vary significantly.
The differentiation products of the nail matrix are histologically different. The upper layer is made up of more layered, dense and flat, substantially elongated along the cell, and the inner layer is a large accumulation of cubic cells, which differ in electronic-optical and histochemical parameters.
Favorable mechanical properties of the nail are provided by its layered structure with an elastic lower section and a rigid upper one. On the lower side, the third layer is adjacent to the free part of the nail, which is a product of hyponychia differentiation. In the presence of pathological processes, it can grow strongly.
The growth rate of the nail depends on the rate of formation of new cells in the matrix. Matrix cells, in contrast to the epidermal keratinization mechanism, are transformed without the keratohyaline stage and are lamellar horny structures, the cells of which contain the remnants of the nucleus.
Throughout a person's life, fingernails and toenails grow continuously, unless traumatic or painful influences interfere with this. Moreover, with age, the growth rate decreases. The approximate growth rate of toenails is 1 mm per month, and the nail plate grows back completely in about 1-1.5 years. Moreover, the nails of different toes grow at different rates. Slowest toe speed. Fingernails grow several times faster. In children and young women, nails grow faster than in young men, but after 40 years, this ratio changes. In the daytime, nail growth is faster than in the dark. The growth of nails increases with injuries, pregnancy, after surgical removal of the nail. But poor nutrition and various general diseases, on the contrary, slow down the growth of nails.
Symptoms of nail diseases
Human nails suffer from various diseases. Here are the symptoms of the most common ones:
- Onycholysis - detachment from the nail bed of the nail plate;
- Leukonychia - a disease in which the nail becomes white;
- Pachyonychia - thickening of the nail plate;
- Gapalonychia is a disease in which the nail plate becomes too thin;
- Onychorexis - longitudinal splitting of the nail plate;
- Onychogryphosis - a change in the thickness and color of the nail plate when it is bent in the form of a beak;
- Hyperkeratosis of the nail bed - thickening of the nail bed, which often occurs in response to fungal diseases;
- Koilonychia - a change in the shape of the nail plate in the form of a spoon;
- Onychochisis - transverse splitting of the nail plate;
- Onychomycosis - nail fungus;
- Onychomadesis - complete loss of the nail plate;
- Onychocryptosis is an ingrown nail.
Of all the above diseases, onychomycosis (nail fungus) and onychocryptosis (ingrown nail) are the most common.
Onychomycosis is a very persistent infectious disease that can survive for several months even on fallen nail plates. You can catch it through contaminated shoes and in public places - saunas and baths, gyms and swimming pools.
Nail fungus begins, usually on the skin and in the interdigital folds, accompanied by severe itching and burning, peeling of the skin. If the treatment of nail fungus is not immediately started, then it becomes more severe, cracks and ulcers, blisters on the skin may appear. And only after that, the disease spreads to the toenails.
Outwardly, the color of the nail changes, it becomes opaque, then begins to disintegrate and crumble. If left untreated, nail fungus will spread throughout the entire nail and spread to the inside of the nail. Therefore, it will be difficult to overcome it even after removing the nail.
As a rule, the treatment of nail fungus is medication, with the use of special ointments and tablets.
An ingrown nail (onychocryptosis) is a disease caused by ingrowth of the nail plate into the lateral part of the nail fold. Most often this happens on the one hand. The disease is accompanied by painful symptoms, redness and swelling of the nail fold. If the disease progresses, hypergranulation and purulent discharge can be observed.
Most often, the disease occurs on the legs, but it happens that it also manifests itself on the fingernails. Most often, this disease can be seen in pregnant women and people of puberty.
The causes of the disease are various factors. This is heredity and deformities of the nail, improper pedicure or hormonal changes in the body, the consequences of fungal diseases.
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