Grow Your Own Nails

Chemotherapy and Your Nails: How to Care For Them

Mary Gail Mercurio M.D. told breastcancer.org that she sees a variety of changes to the nails during chemotherapy. “These include the development of a line in the nail that actually reflects the timing of the chemotherapy," she said.

"Often there will be multiple lines and indentations reflecting the different cycles of chemotherapy.”

She went on to say that these changes are temporary and will grow out as the nail begins to grow again. Additionally, because during chemotherapy the nail does not adhere as tightly to the bed below, extra care must be taken to keep the nail from being pulled off. It is very important to maintain good hygiene to prevent bacteria from getting underneath the nail and causing an infection.

How to take extra care:

1. Wear rubber gloves: During chemotherapy, the skin on our hands can become dry and easily damaged. Wearing gloves while washing dishes, using cleaning products or working in the garden will protect them from this exposure.

2. Bring you own tools if you go for a manicure: Even though salons are supposed to sterilize their instruments, it is better to be extra cautious and bring your own to avoid an infection.

3. Avoid getting nail wraps: It is not recommended that one have artificial nails placed during this time because it is easy for moisture, bacteria or a fungus to get trapped under the nail. Use clear nail polish instead for strengthening but avoid acetone based nail polish removers.

4. Keep cuticles moisturized and healthy to avoid infections: Use a quality lotion or cream to keep cuticles smooth. It is best to just push cuticles back against the nail to keep them tidy, do not trim them. If you must trim a badly torn cuticle, make sure to use a scissor cleaned first with disinfectant and wear a Band-Aid for extra protection if necessary.

Wet & Wild - Red Tape

A while back I was looking for a peachy shaded nail polish at Wallgreens and I came across one by Wet n Wild for $2. I wouldn't really want to try this brand because I figured it would chip easily but given the name, "megalast," I gave it a try and it lasted me a full week. So logically I went back for it in a few more colors and one of them was this bright cherry red called "Red Tape." This is my manicure as of today and I did my nails last Friday (one day away from a week ago!) and there's not ONE chip! I would leave it on past a week if it wasn't because my nails grow out so quickly :/ Last weekend I went to the Strikeforce weighins and someone stepped on my foot and broke a my middle toenail in half -_- Normally I would've ran to the nail salon and gotten a pedicure and asked for an acrylic coat on my broken toenail just so it stays in place while it grows out (for those of you who haven't had this issue, you can't just remove a broken toenail because most of the time they're still attached on one side so that would HURT!) but I was short of two hours before the fight on Saturday night and I had Andrew hurrying me up so I ran to Walgreens and bought this nail glue. It's just like a nail polish but it dries REALLY HARD like any other nail glue except the application is really easy. So I applied two coats, let it dry then buffed and painted over it and problem solved! So those of you gals that get chips in your nails often might wanna give this a try! I haven't tried it on my fingernails because I like to keep them neatly trimmed and filed but I'm sure it would work just as well.

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