The nail bed regenerated well in the presence of the nail matrix and poorly in its absence, suggesting that the nail bed regenerated from the nail matrix.
If a damaged nail has not grown out normally after 12 months the damage is permanent. Nail plates grow forward from the germinal matrix which lies under the cuticle skin at the base of the nail called the eponychium.
Many injuries to your nail bed can be fully repaired. For example, your nail should return to normal after a subungual hematoma is drained. However, some severe injuries can lead to a deformed nail. This is more likely when the base of your nail bed is injured.
If you lose your nail, it will take about 7 to 10 days for the nail bed to heal. A new fingernail will take about 4 to 6 months to grow to replace the lost nail. Toenails take about 12 months to grow back.
Severe damage to the nail bed (the soft tissue underneath the nail plate that attaches the nail to the finger), particularly from a crush injury, often results in permanent nail deformity. To reduce the risk of a permanent nail deformity, the injury should be repaired immediately, which requires removal of the nail.
Nails grow back slowly. It takes about 6 months for a fingernail and up to 18 months for a toenail to grow back.
Nail Bed Repair
Suture the nail bed if a large subungual hematoma is associated with an unstable or avulsed nail. Good outcome depends on maintaining the space under the cuticle where the new nail will grow out from (the germinal matrix). If this area scars down a new nail will not grow.
The nail bed is moist, soft, and sensitive. It needs to be protected from injury for the first 7 to 10 days until it dries out and becomes hard. Keep it covered with a nonstick dressing or a bandage without adhesive.
If a part of the nail is still stuck to the nail bed, it should be left intact. However, if a portion of the nail is loose and detached from the nail bed it should be removed. Treatments provided by a podiatrist include: Trimming the nail, filing any sharp edges and keeping the nail smooth.
One of them is the nailbed, the skin below the surface of the nail that extends to just before the fingertip.
Your fingernails grow slowly — in fact, they grow about one tenth of an inch (2.5 millimeters) each month. At that rate it can take about 3 to 6 months to completely replace a nail. Where your nail meets your skin is your cuticle. Cuticles help to protect the new nail as it grows out from the nail root.
Nail bed repairs are undertaken usually with a 6-0 absorbable suture, such as Vicryl Rapide. The removed nail plate may then be trimmed and used to splint eponychial fold to facilitate growth of the new nail plate.
A fever, injury, chemotherapy, or major stress can cause your nails to grow slowly or stop growing. If you cannot think of what could may have caused your nails to grow slowly or stop growing, see your dermatologist or primary care doctor. Once you find and get rid of the cause, nails often start growing normally.
The nail bed, is a specialised form of skin epithelium, and has the same four layers of the epidermis of skin, with the nail plate being analogous to the stratum corneum layer. The nail plate is made up of tightly packed, hard, keratinized epidermal cells.
Sometimes detached nails are associated with injury or infection. In other cases nail separation is a reaction to a particular drug or consumer product, such as nail hardeners or adhesives. Thyroid disease and psoriasis — a condition characterized by scaly patches on the skin — also can cause nail separation.
Protect any exposed part of the nail bed for 7 to 10 days until this skin hardens and isn't sensitive anymore. Coat the area with antibiotic ointment and top with a nonstick bandage. Change the bandage every day and whenever it gets wet. (If any part gets stuck, soak it under warm running water until it slips off.)
Use a Strengthening Base Coat
“I recommend cuticle oil, hand cream, a strengthening base coat, and a keratin nail treatment,” says Graves. “These will keep the cuticles and nails hydrated while also helping to protect and strengthen the nails during the regrowth process.”
Nails don't need surface access to air because they get oxygen and nutrients from your blood. Keeping nails hydrated is important if yours are prone to breakage, and a pause in polishing to moisturize would help.
Even a small injury to your nail bed can undo the “glue” that holds your nail to your finger or toe. So, yes, your nail could come off after an injury — even with the right medical treatment.
“Nails do not need to 'breathe,” says Dr. Dana Stern, an NYC dermatologist and nail specialist who also has her own line of nail care products and polishes. “This is a myth! Nails receive their nutrients, oxygen, and blood supply from the blood stream and not from the air.”
The nail bed contains blood vessels and nerves and produces melanin. As the nail root grows the nail, the nail bed adds material to the underside of the nail to make it thicker. The actual fingernail is the nail plate, made of translucent keratin. It has grooves to help anchor it to the nail bed.
The nails you can see are dead and have no feeling. However, a layer of skin under the nails, called the dermis, has sensory nerve endings . These send a signal to your brain when pressure is applied to your nails.