Anatomically fingernails and toenails are made of a tough protein called keratin and have many different parts:

• The free edge is the part of the nail that extends past the finger, beyond the nail plate. There are no nerve endings in the nail - this is the growing part of the nail still under the skin at the nail's proximal end.

• eponychium or cuticle, is the fold of skin at the proximal end of the nail.

• paronychium is the fold of skin on the sides of the nail.

• hyponychium is the attachment between the skin of the finger or toe and the distal end of the nail.

• nail plate is the hard and translucent portion, composed of keratin.

• nail bed is the adherent connective tissue that underlies the nail, often colloquially referred to as the "quick."

• lunula is the crescent shaped whitish area of the nail bed (when visible)

• nail fold a fold of hard skin overlapping the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.

• The above definition is from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_%28anatomy%29 This is a partial definition from 6/4/08.

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