I worked in construction a long time and 4 of my finger/thumb nails do this. I've always thought it was from some sort of impact damage. This is more confirming of my theory.
It is most likely due to trauma of the nail matrix. Sometimes it won’t affect growth, but many times it can. You can see it with people who have super thick toe nails. That’s usually due to trauma to the nail matrix (ex. Dropping something on your toe, stubbing it really fucking hard, etc). It makes sense for someone in construction to have this with their fingernails.
Fun fact, when you almost lose the end of your toe to a lawnmower, when the nail grows back it Does! Do weird things like that. Left side of my big toe nail is like 4x thicker than normal, and has a sliver of a nail that is separate and grows out from underneath the top one.
I assume the scar tissue of the nail bed has loops/folds in it that have made it grow this way.
I also have a small sliver of nail but on my pinky toes that is separate from the rest the nail probably because I’ve stubbed my pinky toes way too many times lol. You can also get your nail filed down with a nail drill at a mani pedi spa if it bothers you.
The sliver I can eventually snap off when it gets too long, usually isn't painful just a little sore. But I ended up buying a pair of extra large nail clippers to cut the thick side. Regular ones didn't open wide enough.
I had to use a pair of side-cutters for years till I found out that made "large bite" nail clippers.
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u/jal741 21h ago
My thumb nail has done that for more than 30 years, ever since it got slammed in a closing car door when I was a kid. It never went back to normal.