All About Nails--Second Installment from Dr. Dana Stern

Chicago, you’re glowing!  Perhaps it’s because our fair city is hosting the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Annual Meeting? 

In honor of this event, we thought we’d bring you the second nail care installment from the amazing Dr. Dana Stern (You Gellin’?).

Remember, if you have any lingering questions about nail or skincare, just ask Dr. Stern herself!  Her contact information is below.

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What's the best thing we can be doing for our nails outside of the salon? 

Good cuticle care is key!  Never cut your cuticles.  Your cuticle is your nail’s natural protective seal.  It protects the entire nail from things like yeast, bacteria, and fungus from entering and wreaking havoc.  Instead, the cuticle can be gently pushed back with a wash cloth after a warm shower or soak.

Care for your cuticles.  Not only is the cuticle a protective seal, it also happens to live right above the most important part of the nail, the nail matrix.  Any trauma to the cuticle area (cutting, biting, picking) can affect the matrix and ultimately will be seen as irregularities in the nail.  Apply your favorite cuticle cream, moisturizer, or cuticle oil, that’s all you need!

Any tips on how to extend your manicure/pedicure? 

Use a good top coat to extend the life of your mani/pedi.  Make sure the polish is being applied to the very tip and free edge of the nail.  Also, gloves with wet work (dishes, laundry) help, too. 

Why do my nails sometimes look yellow when I take my polish off? 

Nail yellowing occurs for (3) reasons:

1. The porosity of the nail is variable: certain people [who] have more porous nails are just more prone to pigment migration, and thus, yellowing.

2. Polish remover: dissolves the polish and makes the pigments migrate and leach.  We may be seeing more yellowing with the no-chip/gel manicures which require 10 min soaks in acetone for removal---stay tuned!

      3. Dye content: not all polish dyes are alike.  The darker the color, the more pigment.  Yellowing is an issue with all brands.  The issue is more shade-dependent (more common with darker colors) than brand-dependent.  Can also happen with light colors, though. 

I get ridges on my nails that can't be buffed away. What causes them and how do I get rid of them? 

The medical term for longitudinal ridges is onychorrhexis, and it is a very common type of brittle nails.  Onychorrhexis is genetic, can be age related, and can be challenging to treat.  Buffing will frequently make it worse because buffing thins out the nail plate (much like sanding your floors), making it more vulnerable to breakage.  Consider a 2-3 week nail cosmetic holiday.  Nail polish remover is extremely drying to the nail and avoiding polish remover for a few weeks can help to get your nails back into shape.

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What should we be looking for when we are assessing the cleanliness of  a nail salon? 

First impressions are important. When you walk into the salon, does the overall appearance appear clean to you?  Look around at certain details: are the floors clean, are the technician’s licenses displayed, and do the photos match up and are they up-to-date (just looked at one that was expired by a couple of years)?  Do the technicians wash their hands before and after each client?  Are the products in properly sealed, well-labeled containers?  Is the salon well-ventilated?  Now look at the implements, how are they being sanitized and disinfected?  Where are they being stored in between clients?  Are they using one-time use items (emery boards, orange sticks, pumices, buffers, toe separators) once, or are they erroneously re-using?

Anything women will be shocked to learn about their nail salon? 

Unfortunately, not the stuff to bring up at a dinner party, but there are plenty of shocking salon-related tales.  There was a death secondary to a pedicure reported in the state of Texas in a quadriplegic woman who acquired a staph infection from a pedicure foot bath.  Other infections have also been transmitted in salons (herpes whitlow, hepatitis, atypical mycobacterial infections).  No foot baths and bring your own implements!

Dr. Dana Stern is an Assistant Clinical Professor at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is in private practice in New York City.  Dr. Stern can answer all of your nail and skincare questions on Facebook and Twitter (@DrDanaStern)!