Importance of the Nail Cuticle

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

The nails on our fingers are a wonderful resource that evolution has allowed us to preserve from the ancestors of our most remote ancestors, experimenting transcendental evolutionary changes that will lead them to go from being powerful claws, to the widely versatile hardened structures that protect the tips of the fingers. In order for these biological tools to be generated and also kept healthy in each of the various species that possess them, it has been essential the existence of a protective membrane that acts as a mediator between the epidermis and the area of ​​specialized cells that give rise to the nails. This membrane, called the cuticle, fulfills the following functions: 1) protect the nail bed and the skin beneath it against potential infection and damage; 2) seals the base of the nail preventing moisture, bacteria and fungi from finding access to the lower part of the nail; 3) helps regulate the process of uniform nail growth, avoiding deformities; and 4) provides the nail with natural lubrication to prevent breakage due to dryness.

primitive protection

Given that each of the parts of the body exist for an evolutionary reason, based on a need to protect against the potential risks that being alive entails, the constant interaction with external variations of the environment and multiple pathogenic agents, with greater emphasis on microorganisms, of which humanity was not even aware Until the end of the 17th century, the nail cuticle had not been the subject of much questioning or interest, passing as a subject lacking relevance both at a social and professional level. scientist.

However, the progressive improvements that since then have been incorporated into the habits of societies with respect to the healthiness of spaces and the personal hygiene, have been stimulating the change of perception towards our own bodies, assuming an increasingly aesthetic vision of physical appearance and the image of health that is transmitted through it, a fact that transcends the relevant role that hands play on a daily basis, both for what we are able to do with them, as well as for the communicational role that we have given them, becoming in many cultures one of the first things that we observe of other people, since clean and well-cared hands are the reflection of someone who not only wants to please others, but is capable of taking good care of himself same.

Priorities in beauty

The increasingly popularized manicure and pedicure practices soon considered the total removal of the nail cuticle, through rudimentary practices, which in most of occasions generated lesions, becoming the direct access door for fungi and bacteria with their corresponding infectious processes, the reason for multiple consultations dermatological and prolonged treatments, especially in cases of onychomycosis where the fungus takes root in such a way in the nail itself that its fight becomes an arduous battle.

Diseases such as diabetes and immunosuppression conditions further increase the risk factor and severity in the face of potential infections in a cuticle mistreated, a situation that motivated the development of informative campaigns on the importance of the cuticle and its correct care, guiding towards a new focus on how it has to be treated even for aesthetic purposes, which motivated the cosmetic industry towards the development of a wide range of techniques, implements and products highly specialized in the care and correct treatment of both cuticles and nails, so it is always convenient place hands and feet in the care of professionals who currently have adequate knowledge that allows them to minimize the latent risks of cuticle abuse.

Removing the excesses

However, for dermatologists and infectologists, as well as diabetes specialists, the treatment received by the cuticles is still an element of constant concern, because even the most inadvertent wound can become the cause of a terrible amputation, making it more than necessary to warn about the importance of the cuticle as a protective barrier against pathogens, whose removal must be carried out with the appropriate implements and in order to eliminate excesses of dead cells, as well as dirt that could accumulate in its environment, without reaching the radical practice of total removal of the cuticle, as this would imply for the nail the temporary loss of all the benefits that it represents this protective membrane, causing its weakness and possible deformations that in turn would have their own aesthetic impact contrary to the sense of beauty that was being wishing.

References

Dorado, J. G., & Fraile, P. TO. (2016). Hair and nail disorders. Integral Pediatrics, 244.

Garmendía, J. L., Viedma, P. I., & Arza, J. m. (2008). Onychomycosis: diagnosis and treatment. Info. Ter. System nac. Health, 32(3), 83-92.

Lawrence, v. EITHER. (2021). The language of nails. The pharmacist: profession and culture, (598), 28-32.

Marroquin Leon, K. v. (2017). Importance of the correct application of biosafety in pedicure, acrylic nails and permanent straightening services in beauty salons in Guatemala, year 2015 (Doctoral dissertation).