Cuticles are a critical part of the nail unit. This research paper highlights the importance of not filing away your cuticle entirely. The cuticle serves a physical barrier to prevent pathogen/infection entry in to the skin. Filing it away entirely can cause paronychia, painful swelling, redness and inflammation of the skin around the finger or toe nail, due to bacterial, viral or fungal infection which in turn can lead to temporary, or sometimes permanent, nail dystrophy or abnormal nail growth