Thursday skin facts – Are fingernails skin?
March 19th, 2009
Fingernails are made of skin cells and keratin, which is a protein that makes the nails hard. And, just like skin, nails are a reflection of your diet and your health.
For example, little white lines could be a sign of calcium deficiency, and square, flat nails might be a result of too little B12 in your diet.
Fingernails can also show indication of illness. A nail with pits or ripples could be early signs of psoriasis or even inflammatory arthritis. Ask a doctor if you aren’t sure.
Fingernails also do some pretty amazing things. Here are a couple of facts:
- The rate of a nail’s growth is in relationship to the finger it is on. The shorter the finger the slower the growth, which means the pinky nails grow the slowest.
- Fingernails and toenails not only protect fingers and toes from injury, but they also serve to sense/feel objects and allow us to pick things up.
Check back with us next Thursday for more skin facts.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Skin Facts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.