are finger nails actually dead pieces of tissue?

Answer 1

In anatomy, a nail is a horn-like piece at the end of an animal finger or toe. See also claw.

Fingernails and toenails, which are made of protein and are a form of modified hair, are composed of:

* the nail matrix or the root of the nail - this is the growing part of the nail still under the skin at the nail's proximal end.
* eponychium or cuticle which is the fold of skin at the proximal end of the nail.
* paronychium which is the fold of skin on the sides of the nail.
* hyponychium which is the attachment between the skin of the finger or toe and the distal end of the nail.
* nail plate which is what we think of when we say nail, the hard and translucent portion, composed of keratin.
* nail bed which is the adherent connective tissue that underlies the nail.
* lunula which is the crescent shaped whitish area of the nail bed.

Nails grow at an average rate of 0.1 mm/day (1 cm every 100 days) [1]. Fingernails require 3 to 6 months to regrow completely. Toenails require 12 to 18 months. Actual growth rate is dependent upon age, season, exercise level, and hereditary factors.

This growth record can show the history of recent health and physiological imbalances, and has been used as a diagnostic tool since ancient times.[2] Major illness will cause a deep horizontal groove to form in the nails. Miscoloration, thinning, thickening, brittleness, splitting, grooves, Mee's lines, small white spots, receded lunula, clubbing(convex), flatness, spooning(convex) or can indicate illness in other areas of the body, nutrient deficiencies, drug reaction or poisoning, or merely local injury. Nails can also become thickened (onychogryphosis), loosened (onycholysis), infected with fungus (onychomycosis) or degenerative (onychodystrophy); for further information see nail diseases.

Answer 2

What Are Fingernails?
A fingernail is produced by living skin cells in the finger. A fingernail consists of several parts including the nail plate (the visible part of the nail), the nail bed (the skin beneath the nail plate), the cuticle (the tissue that overlaps the plate and rims the base of the nail), the nail folds (the skin folds that frame and support the nail on three sides), the lunula (the whitish half-moon at the base of the nail) and the matrix (the hidden part of the nail unit under the cuticle).

Fingernails grow from the matrix. The nails are composed largely of keratin, a hardened protein (that is also in skin and hair). As new cells grow in the matrix, the older cells are pushed out, compacted and take on the familiar flattened, hardened form of the fingernail.

The average growth rate for nails is 0.1 mm each day (or 1 centimeter in 100 days). The exact rate of nail growth depends on numerous factors including the age and sex of the individual and the time of year. Fingernails generally grow faster in young people, in males, and in the summer.

Fingernails grow faster than toenails. The fingernails on the right hand of a righthanded person grow faster than those on their left hand, and vice versa.

Answer 3

yes they are! as the dead skin builds up it gets pushed out of your skin making the nail it is dead and it gets pushed it does not "grow"

Answer 4

Finger nails are harden protein,like hair. That's why if you don't have a lot of dairy they brake.

Answer 5

our nails grow from ower matrix which is active and alive but it is dead skin just like hair,eyebrows,pubic,eyelashes, it has different levels of keritin which is protien in our body.

Answer 6

Yes only the cuticle is alive.

Answer 7

yes

Answer 8

yes they are. =) ....and so is your hair but it's something else...not sure what but it's dead too.

Answer 9

No.
They grow,so they are not dead.

Answer 10

yeah its just like your hair.