Nail beauty therapy: an attractive enhancement or a potential hazard?

Application of a three‐dimensional scanner to the quantitative assessment of the nail plate condition after a hybrid manicure procedure—Preliminary study

BACKGROUND

About 90% of women worldwide use nail care products, including manicure ones. A manicure procedure results in nail damage, therefore it is necessary to search for new, objective methods of assessing the impact of the procedures and products applied within the nail plate. In this study, an attempt was made to quantify the impact of manicure procedures on the nail plate condition.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty thumb nail plates were examined. Before the manicure procedures, alginate casts were prepared for each of the subjects. The analysis of the three-dimensional (3D) nail surface structure included the assessment of the nail sections and the assessment of differences in the nail structure after superposition of 3D images of the nail plates before and after the manicure procedures.

RESULTS

The obtained results show that the nail plate structure changed to a similar extent in each measured section after the manicure procedure. A change in the height of the nails is not a desirable phenomenon as it suggests damage to the nail caused by the substances included in the preparations applied to the nails, acetone, or filing the nail plate. This proves the great influence of the technique of removing artificial nails on the structure of the natural plate.

CONCLUSION

The use of a 3D scanner allows for precise, biometric, quantitative, and repeatable measurements of changes in the nail structure after a manicure procedure. The use of the hybrid and gel manicure procedure causes significant damage to the nail plate, especially in its distal portion.

A preliminary study of post-progressive nail-art effects on in vivo nail plate using optical coherence tomography-based intensity profiling assessment

Nail beautification is a widely applied gender independent practice. Excessive nail beautifications and nail-arts have a direct impact on the nail structure and can cause nail disorders. Therefore, the assessment of post-progressive nail-art effects on the nail is essential to maintain optimal nail health and to avoid any undesirable disorders. In this study, in vivo nails were examined in control stage, with a nail-art stage, and after removing the nail-art stage using a 1310 nm spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system. The acquired cross-sectional OCT images were analyzed by a laboratory customized signal processing algorithm to obtain scattered intensity profiling assessments that could reveal the effects of nail beautification on the nail plate. The formation and progression of cracks on the nail plate surface were detected as an effect of nail beautification after 72 h of nail-art removal. Changes in backscattered light intensity and nail plate thickness of control and art-removed nails were quantitatively compared. The results revealed the potential feasibility of the developed OCT-based inspection procedure to diagnose post-progressive nail-art effects on in vivo nail plate, which can be helpful to prevent nail plate damages during art removal through real-time monitoring of the boundary between the nail plate and nail-art. Besides nail-art effects, the developed method can also be used for the investigation of nail plate abnormalities by examining the inconsistency of internal and external nail plate structure, which can be diagnosed with both qualitative and quantitative assessments from a clinical perspective.

Nail health in women

Healthy nails are functionally and cosmetically important to the daily work of women. The globally increasing market for nail cosmetics reflects the importance of the appearance of nails. This article details the composition of a healthy nail, diagnosis and treatment of nail disorders, use of nail cosmetics and their risks, the impact of the aging process on nails, and the relative risks to nail salon workers. Knowledge of these issues will prepare health care providers and patients to maintain healthy nails throughout their lives.

Eyelid Dermatitis Caused by Allergic Contact to Acrylates in Artificial Nails

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in cases of allergic contact dermatitis caused by acrylates, because of the growing popularity of artificial nails. Pathological reactions to artificial nails typically occur on or around the nail area. Eyelid contact dermatitis due to artificial nails is rarely seen, especially in a nonoccupational setting. The authors report the case of a 45-year-old female accountant who developed eyelid dermatitis due to artificial nails.

[Cosmetic nail products]

Cosmetic embellishment of fingernails involves the use of substance that harden either after the evaporation of solvents (varnishes) or after polymerisation (artificial acrylic nails, gel tips, glue-on artificial nails). Pathological reactions to cosmetics usually occur at a remote site for varnishes, and, most commonly, in situ with polymerising substances. Unvarnished artificial nails do not affect pulse oximetry readings, and in theory, patients are not required to remove them. However, a real problem of contamination via artificial nails exists. Increased carriage of pathological Gram-negative organisms and of Staphylococcus aureus and yeasts has been noted among nursing staff wearing artificial nails, both before and after fingernail cleaning. Fingernail fragility manifests itself through a number of different physical signs such as soft, breaking nails, with longitudinal or transverse fissures, showing distal doubling or friability. In some subjects, excessive manicuring with metal instruments or manicure sticks results in rolled onycholysis, of evocative appearance, or transverse onycholysis.

The solution to pollution may not be dilution: A paediatric burn from accidental fingernail glue spillage

The use of fingernail glue in cosmetics is widespread, but the serious effects of spillage directly onto skin causing a burn have not been previously reported. We describe a 2-year-old male suffering full-thickness burns to the dorsum of his left foot 9 days after direct contact with cyanoacrylate-containing nail glue. Conservative management failed and formal surgical excision with skin grafting was needed. First aid advice from product safety and medical literature is ambiguous, as despite timely intervention with recommended measures, a serious burn injury resulted. Review of the literature revealed two other cases of indirect nail glue burns, both requiring surgery, with clothing acting as an interface between glue and skin, distinguishing it from our case. We propose possible mechanisms of injury and present this case to increase awareness of the consequences of contact with a seemingly trivial cosmetic chemical, recommend its better labelling and hope to educate medical professionals about this unusual, but serious mechanism of burn injury. This would obviate additional psychological stress on child and parents due to unnecessary referral to social services for investigation of a possible non-accidental injury.

Artificial nails and psoriasis

When dealing with artificial nails, it is often mentioned that psoriasis is a contraindication because artificial nails may worsen nail psoriasis by Köbner phenomenon.(1) However, although not thoroughly discussed, other interactions between psoriasis and artificial nails exist. On the basis of clinical cases, the following interactions are described: worsening of psoriasis, the fact that psoriatic patients wearing artificial nails are more exposed to infections, and allergic risks. The clinical similarities that may exist between nail psoriasis and nail alterations caused by allergic reactions to artificial nails are also emphasized.

Side effects of nail cosmetics

Cosmetics applied on the nail encompass three types: (1) coatings that harden upon evaporation; (2) coatings that polymerize; and (3) stick-on nail dressings (synthetic covers). The adverse reactions induced by the two first types present with both local reactions and distant contact dermatitis. Whereas nail enamel applications result especially in ectopic contact dermatitis, polymerizing coatings and synthetic covers represent the main culprit for sometimes severe, local reactions. Whatever the nature of the nail cosmetics, they may produce some adverse reactions. They include: (1) local reactions to cosmetics applied on the nail; (2) distant reactions resulting from the use of nail cosmetics; (3) systemic side effects of nail cosmetics; and (4) infection risks from nail cosmetics.

Nail cosmetics: allergies and irritations

Recent precise figures are not available for the number of adverse reactions related to the use of nail care products. Reactions to nail cosmetic procedures may be divided into reactions at the site of application to the nail itself and ectopic reactions, when the hand transfers a small amount of nail cosmetic to other areas of the skin. Fingernail coatings encompass two types: coatings that harden upon evaporation (nail enamel, base coat, top coat); and coatings that polymerize (sculptured nails, light-curing gels, preformed artificial nails, nail mending and nail wrapping). The test battery enables us to distinguish allergic reactions from irritant reactions. Interestingly, some reactions, such as distant allergic contact dermatitis, are more frequent with nail enamel than with coatings that polymerize. On the other hand, the latter are greater offenders in the nail area. Nail hardeners may just be modified nail enamels containing nylon fibers, acrylate resin and hydrolyzed proteins. Others may contain up to 5% formaldehyde tissue fixative (which can have adverse effects on the nail), but are designed in the US to be applied only to the free edge of the nail while the skin is shielded. Caution is necessary in interpreting formaldehyde patch testing reactions.