Reconstruction of a functional and esthetic nail.

The most common cause of nail bed deformity is trauma, but other causes are infection, tumor, ischemia, or congenital anomalies. This article includes discussions of nonadherence, split nail, reconstruction of the eponychium, crooked and hooked nail, bony irregularity, pachyonychia, ischemic deformities, and absence of the nail. New problems are encountered daily and other deformities have no method of correction recorded in the literature. For these cases, we provide suggested treatments based on the anatomy and physiology of the nail.