What is the crescent-shaped white area at the base of the nail?

What is the crescent-shaped white area at the base of the nail?

The half-moon shape at the base of your fingernail is known as a lunula. Lunulae cover the bottom of your nail, just above your cuticle. Lunulae are part of your nail matrix. The matrix refers to the tissue just beneath your nail.

What is the base of the nail called?

The nail sinus (sinus unguis) is where the nail root is; i.e. the base of the nail underneath the skin. It originates from the actively growing tissue below, the matrix. The nail plate (corpus unguis) is the hard part of the nail, made of translucent keratin protein.

What does white at the base of your fingernail mean?

Most people have a small, whitish, half-moon shape at the base of each fingernail where the nail attaches to the cuticle and finger. Some people cannot see a half-moon, or lunula, on the nail while a missing half-moon may suggest a person has a vitamin deficiency or a serious medical condition.

What is the thin layer of skin that covers the base of the nail?

The cuticle or eponychium of the fingernail is a specialized form of epidermis that is found over the base of the nails of the fingers.

Are nails attached to skin?

Fingernails and toenails are made from skin cells. Structures that are made from skin cells are called skin appendages. Hairs are also skin appendages. The part that we call the nail is technically known as the “nail plate.” The nail plate is mostly made of a hard substance called keratin.

Should nail tips be white or clear?

Yep, the healthy nail plate is supposed to be semi-transparent. The pink area you see on your nails is actually the life-nourishing, nail bed BELOW the nail plate. The nail bed provides a constant flow of moisture and oil through the nail plate.

What are the white circles at the bottom of your fingernails?

The aptly named lunula is the white crescent moon shape found at the bottom of the nails of your fingers and toes, but why do we have them? Your fingernails and toenails are made from keratin protein that is secreted by a layer of living tissue at the base of the fingernail called the nail matrix.

What does the white crescent in your nail mean?

We all might have, at some point in our lives, seen a whitish colored semi-circle or crescent located at the beginning of your nails. Though most people would usually think nothing of it.

What makes up the crescent moon on a fingernail?

Your fingernails and toenails are made from keratin protein that is secreted by a layer of living tissue at the base of the fingernail called the nail matrix. The crescent moon shape, or lunula, is the part of the matrix that pokes out from under the flesh of your finger.

Which is the most sensitive part of your fingernails?

The white-colored crescent-shaped area located right in the bed of your fingernails is actually an extremely sensitive and important part of the nail, and everybody should be extremely cautious about not damaging it under any circumstances.

Which is the crescent shaped part of the fingernail?

The lunula, or lunulae (pl.) (from Latin, meaning ‘little moon’), is the crescent-shaped whitish area of the bed of a fingernail or toenail.

The aptly named lunula is the white crescent moon shape found at the bottom of the nails of your fingers and toes, but why do we have them? Your fingernails and toenails are made from keratin protein that is secreted by a layer of living tissue at the base of the fingernail called the nail matrix.

Which is the white part of the finger?

The lunula is the white crescent-shaped area of a finger. [edit on Wikidata] The lunula, or lunulae (pl.) (from Latin, meaning ‘little moon’), is the crescent-shaped whitish area of the bed of a fingernail or toenail. The lunula is the visible part of the root of the nail.

We all might have, at some point in our lives, seen a whitish colored semi-circle or crescent located at the beginning of your nails. Though most people would usually think nothing of it.