The eponychium is an area of specialised skin cells on the ventral side of the proximal nail fold that produce the cuticle. Living skin underneath the proximal nail fold, is a thin layer that stretches from the nail matrix almost up to the frame of keratinised epidermis at the edge of the proximal nail fold at the base of the nail plate. The eponychium is sometimes confused with the cuticle but they are different – the cuticle is the dead skin that lies between the nail plate and the proximal nail fold produced by the living eponychium.