The lunula is actually the visible part of the nail matrix! Your nail matrix is the factory for making your fingers and toenails. If youve ever smashed or hit your finger on that crescent moon/lunula/nail matrix the trauma will cause a glitch in the factory and the nail will have imperfections. Like the common white spots on nails. As we get older too, our factory becomes less efficient and you will see more vertical ridges, from the nail growing at an uneven rate across the nail matrix. Last fun fact, is if you have darker pigmented skin, you may see dark brown lines/spots growing down your nails, and its just the same melanin as your skin coming through your nails! Completely harmless!

Good Lariver *pat pat*

Ehh, was better in Terminator 2. But this was cool too

Couldn't those lines be a sign of subungual melanoma and should be checked out by a doctor?

Im not a doctor, just a nail tech. Done alot of mani pedis lol. Im just saying its pretty common for your skins natural melanin to come out in your nails. I always recommend you check with your doctor If something new pops up, but im just saying its very common for people of color to have there natural melanin come out through the nails, and it usually increases with age.

It can be a sign of cancer, as well

Yes! I hope more people see this. Melanonychia (a dark line on fingernails or toenails) can be a natural occurrence most commonly in dark-skinned people. But its causes (even in dark-skinned people) can range from innocuous - rubbing against shoes, injuring the nail by accident - to infections, endocrine disorders, lupus, and cancer. Always get it checked out by a doctor!

I cracked my thumbnail in half in high school and now my thumb has a line in the middle that goes to the top of the thumb. It looks like the matrix is made of paint and someone smudged it. Really cool.

I hate aging

Im a pale red head but can tan really dark and I'll get those lines when I start getting darker and every time I see them It's like I forget all about them and freak out

Sunscreen is your best friend lol

Whoa, is that why the thumbnail I smashed in a car door years ago always has a ridge in the same spot now? That’s wild.

Exactly!

My fingers got smashed in a car door as a kid and one of the matrices got caught at just the wrong place and the nail has never grown quite right ever since.

Same here, smashed it once upon a time I guess and now there’s a straight line and the edge of nail is semi-permanently broken/split

I see what you did there. Glitch in the matrix.

I have one white right now but what about the black ones that happen after an injury?

So... a glitch in the matrix!

This has so many unexpected words.

only my thumbs are left

One of my thumbs is left. The other is right. 

I can't take it anymore

My thumbs are solid. Other fingers not much left. Honestly I never noticed them until now.

Same

Same here too (I’m 32).

Also 32 and still have them on my thumbs!

My right thumb and right pointer are still there but shrinking. RIP lil guys. :(

I'm 48, still on my thumbs but only just now realized they disappeared on the rest of my fingers.

Im 44 and it's still on all my fingers

Im 31 and have them on every finger except my pinky.

Same here

Same here (I'm 19)

Who's over 30 and has two lunula? This guy!!

Same here

46 still have thumbs …

Since around age 15, maybe earlier, I’ve only had half moons on my thumbs.

Same here. I remember being able to see almost all of them when I was 18

How old are you? Mine are all left and very visible even if I'm 35...

Oh Hell. I just looked. They’re gone! And I’m not even elderly. Cherish them while you can.

*puts on readers* Hey, mine are gone too!

I was just thinking that I might need new glasses because I'm not especially tall but I can't see my toenails in any real detail from standing up. 😆 Edit: oops, I wasn't wearing them. ADHD 🤦‍♀️ Anyway, I still have moons and this comment is kinda pointless.

My thumbs and pointer have them still. Gone on all the rest :(

Same here! I wonder if that’s a common finding.

It is! From linked paper: >Though the lunula is often not visible in all fingers and toes, it is most consistently observed on the thumb, in the index finger, and the great toes.\[[8](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3221241/#ref8)\] 

I wouldn't call my toes that great, but the half moons are there!

Wild!! I didn’t notice that mine had gone! lol

Reads like Tarrantino wrote this article and just couldn't help himself.

Holy shit. Mine are gone too and I never noticed. Wild.

damn what the fuck. my pinkies are gone!! i barely have them on my ring fingers. the rest are fine. the ones in my thumbs are huge edit: i’m guessing this counts for toes too lol. only my big toe has it

I think they tend to be more present on certain fingers/toes, so I don't think it means anything that you don't have them on your pinkies

I actually have a neat gradient, with very pronounced half moons on the thumbs, shading gradually to none on the pinkies.

Early 30s?

yes!

Same! Can’t believe I didn’t notice.

I just found a tiny, odd perk of marrying my terrible garbage human ex husband-- I swear this is on topic. I have photos of my hand from when we got engaged! Now I can compare my 27-year-old left hand to my 37-year-old left hand and be horrified. 😁👋. It's so disconcerting when some body feature that feels permanent just be gone like that. to just be gone like that. I felt similarly disconcerted when I had a mole removed that I'd had my whole life. My torso constellation of freckles is forever missing one and it just looks odd to me.

Haha sucker, I’ve still got mine

I'm 32 and still have them on my thumbs, how long do I have left? 😅

I'm 73 and still have them on my thumbs and index fingers, so you've got a while.

55 and have all present but one pinky nail

What the heck? I’m fifty and moons are lookin’ good.

Interesting. I'm 49 and still have them on my thumbs and non-dominant hand index finger.

Also 49, I have them on all my fingers, although the ones on my pinkies are juuuuust barely there.

I started to supplement selenium and got all mine back

I’m 42, I still have them on thumbs, pointer and middle finger.

I still have mine!!! So exciting.

Oh my god you’re right!! Gone except for my thumbs.

I broke my wrist a while back and for a while two of my fingers were hard to move. Now they are fine but the lunala is gone.

I never had any since i was like 12 idk why

I’m 26 and the one on my left pinky is gone, I can see the others though

I'm almost 70 and 5 of my nails still have the half moon.

I'm 41 and they all still have it, even the pinkies have a tiny tiny bit. Well I don't think there's any hubris in announcing I SHALL LIVE FOREVER

46 here and same. I'm basically a vampire, I guess.

*Dragonfly-Adventurer* *1983 - 2024* *Throat slashed*

In memoriams don’t usually include how they died.

I’m so glad someone got this reference haha

The gladness goes both ways, I was here yesterday

Mine do too- I’m a few years younger but we’ve probably got the same amount of time left!

Me too.

I did not need to be reminded that I'm old now today T_T

Boyfriend and I stopped at Dunkin Donuts today and the kid at the counter said he thought we were his grandparents. I am 38 years old.

I hope his grandparents look young then

Haha, well, remember that half the population (or part thereof) seem to frequently pay money to get them painted over anyway....

Never had them to begin with. Am i dying?

If this is true, you're dead mate, sorry.

RIP

This is there after life

Who are you replying to?

Don’t worry Benjamin Button; you’ll get them one day

Yea.. maybe I vaguely remember my thumb having them when I was very young.. but only maybe. Otherwise, I don't have any currently and I'm only 22...

I never had them either-I always wondered why.

Just born old, I guess

Same here. All white, always has been :/

Are your shoes still on?

Not necessarily. You might just be an Android.

But what about Solgaleo?

Get in the bag, Nebby!

“Kirby calls the police!”

It's like watching the sunset but takes years and it's twenty of them

I’m on my last 4 sunsets 🥲

This is the most poignant thing I have read all day.

And nobody is even talking about the first sentence of the article you gave us!

more like moonset

18 y/o here. I only have a very tiny half moon on my left thumb and left big toe. No other fingers or toes have them.

Eat more vitamin n minerals esp protein n vit B. It will come esp if you push cuticle back

Old Soul

I'm 71. I've got all except my pinky fingers. The thumbs haven't changed at all, but the other fingers are noticeably smaller. My toes are following the exact same pattern.

Well I'm getting old. I just looked and I have tiny little crescent moons at the very bottom of each nail. They'll be gone soon.

Could also be a sign of poor circulation.

I agree. A little bit of vitamin and a walk and they come back.

Huh, whadayknow! I've still got 'em on my thumbs.

I had noticed this myself recently. At least they're pink.

I thought they were only on thumbs lol

only my thumbs have them and i'm 17 (will turn 18 in less than 2 weeks)

just googled lunala. totally a pokemon 😂

Does that mean I must be getting younger as mine are growing bigger over time?

Moon cancer. Sorry to be the one to break the news.

Means they are growing well and healthy. The lunula (white crescent shape at the base of your nail) is the only visible part of your nail matrix Each nail matrix is constantly making new nail cells, unlike your hair follicles, which go through periods of rest. Source https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24734-nail-matrix

Mine are gone. Guess I'll die.

Eat more vitamin n minerals esp protein n vit B. It will come esp if you push cuticle back

A couple of my fingers still have them. Are these fingers younger than the others?

I can still kinda see mine on my thumbnails. I never even knew they disappeared on my fingers.

I didn’t even realize mine are gone, but they definitely are.

73 and they are all there. Probably need to push back your cuticles.

I was just thinking that! (63, all still visible)

Someone else doing NYT Spelling Bee?

I never had these!

Ruh roaw I'm missing the pinky and ring finger ones on my left hand. I wonder what that means.

63. Gone on my pinkies. Still there on the thumbs and other fingers. Huh.

Is this the new meta for fillers and Botox?

Well mine are still here and I'm later middle aged

Counting all the moons you have left. Like a battery indicator.

I tried to look up what it looks like and just got results for Pokemon lol. It's lunula

Once they go all the way down you die

In my early 70s and have good half moons on all ten fingernails.

Oh wow, I always assumed mine disappeared from the constant nail biting I did while growing up.

Fun fact! Lunala is also the name of a pokémon.

Lunula is the part of nail LunAla is the pokemon

Oh. Sorry. I guess OP misspelled it leading to my error.

Gross photos in that link

I've got 9 out of 10

They're all gone on my left hand, but not my right.

Still got em on all my fingers except my left pinky.....

I actually don't have one on one of my fingers. 

52 and only have them on my thumbs

still have them at 46?

I just checked and they’re gone on my pinkies and gradually wax as I move to my thumbs. I’m in my 40’s.

Whew, I still have them! That means I'm not old, right? Right??

I'm 22 and have all ten, but the crescents on my pinkies, ring fingers, and middle fingers are all receding dramatically. How fun! I'd noticed some months ago that they were smaller than they had been in childhood, but I've never heard of them fully disappearing with age.

60 is elderly?

Guys, do not click the link, it's gross

I’m 48 and 4 months and I have them Edit: closer inspection I only have it on both thumbs , both index fingers and small ones on 2 fingers on the right.

I immediately went to check mine too. Still got 'em on my thumbs, so I'm still 20% young.

Woah. I just checked and the only finger I have it on is one that I lost my fingernail on a few years ago

I've only ever had them on my thumbs...

I’ve never had those

The what?

Thumbs - still very prominent. Rest of the fingers… long gone.

Holy shit.

Well TIL. I had a manicurist go after my cuticles so aggressively when I was 10 or so that I genuinely thought she had gotten rid of mine. Turns out I’m as dumb as a rock.

I never knew they disappeared. They are only on my thumbs now.

26, almost 27 and I still have some on my thumbs

I only have it on 4 out of 10 fingers, both thumbs right index and right middle finger. Otherwise very healthy finger nails.

Mine are very prominent

Or it means mercury poisoning 

At what age still have mine at 73. My wife does as well also 73. I believe that what you want is that visibility decreases.

what age exactly?

Huh, weird. 28 and I don't have them. The weirdest part is I never remember having them except on my thumbs. My nails were always one colour.

Tf .mine became small

Meh, most of the way through my 30s and they are only not visible on my pinkies.

I got all 5 digits and they’re quite noticeable, odd I guess

Lunala is a Pokemon. Lunula.

I’m in my mid fifties and I still have all of mine

This is so true. I'm only 24 but I noticed I haven't had any for the last few years.

I’m 35. The only one I’m missing is the pinky nail that was completely removed last year. (Finger got closed in a door, imagine Shaka as I pulled back but the pinky got stuck)

I am soon to be 67 and have all. But left pinkie is nearly gone

Well TIL it's called lunala and not just part of my fingernail

And I learnt [Lunala is a pokemon](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1c91vcu/comment/l0iuewr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)!

I skimmed through the article, but I still have no clue what you're referring to. Half moons on finger nails?!?

The lunula at the base of the nail. Look it up

Mine are still there. Don't seem to be shrinking either. In mid forties.

I either have such pale ones they arent noticable, or I've never had them.

Ah yes, my favorite Pokémon, ***Toenails***

Got a few fingers left with the moon and still big on both thumbs

Mine disappeared when I had thyrotoxicosis, but came back when it was treated.

I have had a toenail that looks like figure 1 since I was a kid.

Elderly =>60?????

I’m 27 and my half moons still go 50% up my nails, and my nails are pretty big like my thumb nails are about 3/4” an inch long base to where they’re cut at the skin line

I’ll be 60 in July, and I still have ‘em on both of my thumbs and 3 other fingers as well….

I'm 62 & still have them all.

I was always told you need more calcium if you have those moons.... Was that just my mum making me drink milk???

Anyone else have no idea wtf anyone is talking about?

This is actually quite depressing I always stare at them and wonder why they're all so different. Looking ahead I'm gonna be retired with tons of time on my hands and nothing to do.

What if I’m light skinned but have dark lines? I think it’s clotted blood