A doctor has taken to TikTok to debunk the myth that our fingernails continue to grow after we die, revealing the creepy reason why they appear to lengthen after we pass away
A doctor has revealed the reason why it looks like our fingernails continue to grow after we die.
It’s an urban legend that our nails and hair carry on lengthening after we pass away, but this is not actually the case. Dr Myro Figura (@doctormyro) took to TikTok to explain that while it may look like our nails are growing, this is in fact a creepy “optical illusion”.
He said: “Fun fact: nails do not grow when you’re dead. It’s an optical illusion that happens because the skin dehydrates, shrivels and retracts.
“I mean look, they barely grow when you’re alive. If you lose a nail it’ll take you six months to grow it back and that right there [the change demonstrated in the video], three months.”
Captioning the clip, which showed the fingernails of a living person growing in fast-motion: “Still faster than toenails!”.
Viewers were quick to comment on the creepy explanation, with one person writing: “Am i the only one who has nails that can grow that long in 1 or 2 weeks, cause ive never seen or met someone with nails like mine.”
Another chimed in: “I thought you were showing us a dead persons hand for a second.”
Nails grow at a rate of roughly 0.1mm daily when we’re alive. This occurs at the nail root, where the germinal matrix is located. The majority of new cells are produced here as existing cells divide. They then propel the more distant parts of the nail forward to accommodate the new growth, resulting in longer nails.
This cell division and creation process can only occur when there’s energy from glucose combustion with oxygen to fuel growth. When we pass away, our heart ceases to beat and oxygen is no longer circulated throughout the body, preventing glucose from being burned.
This halts energy production and consequently, our nails stop growing.
The same principle applies to hair, which has been subject to a similar medical misconception. Each strand of our hair has its own follicle, which serves as the growth root.
At the base of each follicle is a cluster of cells that divide and generate new cells, thus lengthening our hair. This is referred to as the hair matrix.
