Dr Oz: Are Gel Manicures Dangerous?
Many women are taking time out of their days to go to nail salons for gel manicures, which are considered one of the best ways to get long-lasting manicures that will stay for upwards of two weeks without chipping. But the process to get a gel manicure includes placing the hands under lamps that give off UV rays, in some cases keeping the hands there for up to eight minutes.
Is the gel manicure worth it or are they too risky? Dr. Oz was asking the question on his show and if you have a gel manicure appointment later today, you might want to put it off until you read this.
Dr. Oz and dermatologist Dr. Anne Chapras looked at the dangers of getting a gel manicure, which include staph infections, fungal infections and thinning nails.
Dr Oz: Gel Manicures Thin Nails By 50 Percent
Dermatologist Anne Chapas said gel manicures are inherently dangerous because while women are going to a salon for a treatment to make their nails look better, they are actually putting themselves at great risk. The gel manicures actually cause a great deal of nail damage and can cause infection. And that isn’t everything.
One of the biggest areas of concern with gel manicures is the removal process. Dr. Chapas said they do not come off as easily as regular manicures, so a woman’s hands have to be soaked in acetone for a long period of time in order to effectively remove the gel manicure.
The soaking is usually not enough which means there is often a great deal of scraping to get the nail polish removed. This scrapping can lead to the thinning of nails, which Dr. Chapas revealed could lead a woman’s nails to thin by 50 percent. If you already have thin nails, you should avoid gel manicures.
Dr Oz: Gel Manicures Cause Staph Infection and Fungal Infection
To demonstrate how abrasive the removal process of a gel manicure to be, Dr. Oz demonstrated the technique manicurists use. Dr. Oz also explained how this intense process can not only harm the nails themselves, but also the surrounding skin.
Yet the biggest danger is not the process itself, but bacteria that can get into the nail or surrounding skin and lead to a staph infection.
Dr. Chapas said the nails can then become red, painful and swollen, but there is also room for fungus to get in and cause a fungal infection. She added that there is simply no special occasion or event in a person’s life that is worth getting a gel manicure because of the high risk involved.
Dr Oz, yet again has taken his show to an all time low! Why does he have such a grudge against the beauty industry; especially the nail treatments? Does his wife maybe spend too much money on making her nails beautiful? Clearly, no real expert was interviewed for this segment. Being a part of a HUGE nail community, I know that many experts in my field have offered to take part on one of his shows to dispel the myths and share in our concerns of good nail salons and practises versus bad nail salons and their practises. To lump a service (ie gel manicures) into a danger practise is not utilizing your journalistic abilities by actually sitting down and getting the facts right!
Gel applications (ie either in the manicure form with soak off products or in the hard gel enhancement form) are perfectly safe WHEN done properly by TRAINED Nail Professionals! To say that ALL gel manicures are damaging and can lead to major health concerns is a blatant lie and a huge disregard to those of us who take care and concern with keeping our clients safe and healthy. I URGE the producers of this ridiculous fear-based, fluff show to contact Dough Schoon and do a real interview! I dare ya!
I could not have said that better my self Teresa! I was wondering why Dr.Oz keeps attacking the nail industry in particular. I was thinking the same thing, why doesn’t he get Dough Schoon on the show or someone with real and fact based knowledge on beauty products from the nail industry. We have tons of chemist to choose from. Why would we as an business industry that is soley based on consumerism allow products we know would turn the people away? The problems lie with unqualified nail techs and the saturation of under par nail salons. Not with the products themselves. Also with any product on the market, they don’t work for everyone. Since each manufactor has a slightly different makeup to their product, one might work better for one person just as the same product might not be suitable for the next person, this goes for any product line. ie, hair color, toothpaste, regular nail polish, washing detergent.
I received a gel manicure and suffered septic arthritis shortly thereafter. Dr. Oz is right. More often than not, the UV dryers are not properly sterilized and are utilized upon customer after customer, not knowing where their hands have been. I have suffered for 3 weeks and have been in the ER three times. If you have the pain of septic arthritis due to a gel manicure, you would think twice. It is THE WORST POSSIBLE PAIN UPON THE PLANET.
I agree about the thinning of nails from gel manicures 100%. I got a gel manicure 2 times in Oct 2011 (an initial one and then I got a color change about 2-3 weeks later). My nails were ruined from just having them that time. I would say that the damage caused by them is comparable to the damage wearing fake nails would cause and after the color was removed my nails were dented which I don’t even understand why because the tech didn’t use a drill, or excessively file my nails or ANYTHING. It took almost a year for the dent to grow out and I will NEVER get Gel nails again1!!!
I don’t have a problem growing my nails and don’t wear fake nails so I thought this would be safe and even protect my nails from breakage, but my nails were weaker than they have ever been in my life and chipped and cracked at the drop of a dime. They would not grow and stay long until the nails that had been treated with the Gel nails grew out :-/