Lunula of Fingernail

The lunula of a fingernail is the whitish or paler hemispheric portion of the nail body arcing upwards from the cuticle or eponychium. It has the appearance of a half-moon. Lunula is Latin for “moon. All the nails have lunulae, however, the lunula's appearance is most marked in the thumb; and on the other nails the lunula may not be visible at all, hidden beneath the cuticle and the skin further back along the phalanges. The cells of the lunula are the same keratinized cells that make up...