Hair & Nails-Functions & Structure

Hair & nails-functions & structure; nails act as protective covering plates over fingertips and toes soft tissues covering. Nails protect the soft tissue from injury as well as infection. Fingernails also serve to enhance sensation and precise movements of the fingertips through the counter-pressure exerted on the pulp of the fingers by the nails. Nails have a few structures and are divided into 6 different parts; root, nail bed, nail plate, eponychium, paronychium, and hyponychium. Each one of these six components have a specific function, and if a component of the nail structure is disrupted, the nail can look abnormal. Most common abnormal disrubtion is often a nail infection which is presented with darkening of the nail. Hair especially on our heads are made to keep us from getting sick and keeping warm. A few examples of hair at work are nose hairs from keeping particles from going into our noses, and may travel into our lungs, eyelashes keep dust from our eyes as well as acting as a shade to the sun. Each hair has a hair shaft and a hair root. The shaft is the visible part of the hair that sticks out of the skin. The hair root is in the skin and extends down to the deeper layers of the skin. It is surrounded by the hair follicle (a sheath of skin and connective tissue), which is also connected to a sebaceous gland. Hair and nails are both made up of kertain a type of protein that’s a basic component of hair, skin, and nails. Keratin in the skin’s outer layer helps create a protective barrier. The nails and hairs are made up of keratinized cells. These cells are found in the epidermis layer of the skin. The process due to which hair and nails grow is called keratinization. They are made up of dead cells which are not connected to the nerves of the brain. Both skin, hair and nails are protective layers that are part of the integumenturary system and are considered the first line of defense.