Gel nails: Why your manicure habit could damage your health

Prof Caitriona Ryan advises people to get your nails done less frequently.

Beauty fads come and go, but it feels like the nail craze is here to stay. From fashionable styles like the famous “glazed doughnut” to various shapes and sizes — this evolving trend has something for everyone.

We only have to look to the recent Eurovision Song Contest to see the extent of the type of intricate designs that can be created and the ability of a seemingly small part of your look to elevate it.

Swedish singer Loreen’s long, gothic nails became a major talking point and a big part of her winning performance.

But a recent study in the US has put this nail craze under the spotlight, outlining the potentially damaging effects of exposure to nail-drying lamps.

Cells from humans and mice were exposed to different irradiance to evaluate the DNA damage and mutagenic effects of ultraviolet radiation emitted by the nail lamp.

Researchers found that chronic exposure to such lamps can lead to cell death, DNA damage and mutations.

I have been getting my nails done regularly since I was 19.

Graduating from long acrylics, now in my mid-20s, I opt for the current trend: BIAB or builder in a bottle.

Deemed a healthier alternative, this gel-like overlay helps to grow your natural nails. Getting my nails done is a treat, albeit it a frequent one.

Just like going for a haircut, I get my nails filled and refilled whenever they need it — which is usually every three to four weeks.

There’s something about having them done that makes me feel a little more put together, especially when there’s a special occasion coming up.

It’s also a fun, creative outlet where I can experiment with colours and designs and look forward to coming up with something new or taking inspiration from an image on Instagram.

Plus, I enjoy the ritual of going into the nail salon and catching up with the women working there. The place is always packed, so whatever the reason, it’s clear I am not the only nail addict.

Having worked in the industry for over 20 years, managing director of NSI Nail Hair and Beauty, Louisa Flanagan, has noticed a significant increase in nail appointments.

She is currently renovating her salon to add more space to meet the demand. “Nails have just gone through the roof. At one stage before covid, it was all about the lashes, but it’s more about the nails now,” she says.

This trend is reflected on social media too. My Instagram Explore page is filled with #nailinspo, with over 10.5m posts on the platform (#nails has a whopping 216m posts).

My long-term interest in nail art led me to sit up and take notice of the recent research carried out by the University of California in San Diego, where researchers looked at DNA damage and mutations caused by exposure to a UV LED nail lamp.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, two types of UV (ultraviolet) light have been proven to contribute to the risk of skin cancer.

UVA has a longer wavelength and makes up about 90% of the UV radiation that reaches us on Earth. UVB has a shorter wavelength and is known to be more mutagenic. Nail lamps predominantly produce UVA.

Lead researcher Maria Zhivagui purchased a regular (and popular) nail lamp online to carry out the study.

“The machine I bought is an LED UV machine and anybody can purchase it, so a lot of people might have it at home, and you might also find it in nail salons,” she tells me over Zoom from her home in San Diego.

The 29-year-old explains there were several incentives behind her and the team’s decision to conduct the research.

“The first thing that we wanted to assess was the mutagenic potential of UVA radiation. We know that we have a lot of it on Earth,” she says.

Another was the story of former Miss USA contestant Karolina Jasko whose study hit the headlines in 2018. Jasko survived melanoma and while she had a family history of skin cancer, doctors believed that it may also have been linked to her exposure to UV nail machines as she frequently got gel manicures.

“Given that [those of us conducting the research] were already interested in the effect of UVA radiation, we wanted to look deeper into it,” Zhivagui adds.

On a personal level, she also wanted to study the area because she too got regular manicures and had often wondered about the potential dangers of the lamps she was exposing herself to.

Death of cells

According to Flanagan, curing (the part of the process where your nails are under a lamp) is typically 60 seconds per hand. While everyone’s technique varies, she says many technicians will start with four nails on one hand, leaving the thumbs until last, meaning your exposure to the lamp could be between three and four minutes.

Zhivagui’s study looked at exposure of up to 20 minutes. “I would expose [the cells] exponentially to different time points starting from zero, control, nothing, up to 20 minutes,” she explains.

“Twenty-minute exposure of these cells led to 20-30% cell death. It means that a lot of your cells are dying and sometimes your cells or your skin is not able to regenerate to recover from all of this loss.”

In other words, the research tells us that chronic exposure to these UV lamps can lead to cell death, DNA damage and DNA mutations.

“The pattern of mutation I observed in these cells resembles patterns of mutation we see in human cancers,” says Zhivagui.

Speaking on the findings, Prof Caitriona Ryan, Dublin-based consultant dermatologist at the Institute of Dermatologists, says the results are not surprising.

“UVA radiation is harmful to the skin. It causes mutations, skin cancer and premature ageing. That’s why tanning beds are so bad, but you have to bear in mind that [the newer LED lamps] do admit a lower amount of UVA than traditional lamps. But nonetheless, it’s there,” she says, adding that everyone’s susceptibility to DNA damage is different.

Prof Ryan notes that the University of California study was “in vitro”, meaning it was conducted outside a living organism, using cell lines derived from mice and humans. While this was the safest way for the scientists to mimic human conditions, she says, it is not the equivalent. She also highlights that the cell lines used in studies do not have the epidermal top layer, which may give additional protection.

Protecting your hands and nails

While UV lamps used to be the norm, there has been a shift towards using LED lamps in recent years. As stated by the Skin Cancer Foundation, some nail lamps are called UV lamps, and some are called LED lamps, but both emit UV radiation. However, the UV risk is much lower than that presented by tanning beds.

“We haven’t sold a UV lamp in a long time. It’s all LED and basically, LED is faster,” explains Flanagan. “When you get your gel polish under a UV lamp, you would have had to go under for two minutes. With the LED, you only have to go under for a minute.”

As Zhivagui mentioned, the lamp used for the study was an LED UV lamp.

While studies such as one carried out by Joshua M Schulman and David E Fisher in Boston have shown us that “indoor tanning bed use represents an avoidable risk factor for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer”, there is a possibility that the damaging effects of nail lamps may take longer to see.

Prof Ryan notes how we have not seen an increase in finger and nail skin cancer due to the curing lamps in real life. “But it may be too early to tell,” she says.

To protect your nails from potential damage, she recommends using sunblock on your hands while getting your nails done and a longer gap between manicures. “Be cautious and [wear] sunblock on your hands, decrease frequency if you can, and move over to the types of nails that only need to be done every four to five weeks,” she advises.

Sunblock is the preferred option as it blocks UV rays, acting as a barrier on the skin. Sunscreen, by contrast, is a chemical defence that absorbs the UV rays before they can reach the dermal layers. Other possible precautions include the use of UV protection fingerless gloves.

Following her findings, Zhivagui has stopped getting her nails done in salons. She shows me her polished nails, which she has painted herself. If she had to get her nails done professionally, she would use sunblock “and a lot of precautions,” she says. “But my main advice is to limit as much as possible and to opt for other options where you do not need UV curation.”

As for me, I have implemented Prof Ryan’s advice on getting my nails done less frequently. As someone who loves a fresh set, it has been difficult to cut back. The nail growth that came with an extra couple of weeks between appointments was something I couldn’t help but notice. My nails had grown very long and started to chip so during my next appointment, I took the plunge and asked my nail technician to make my nails much shorter and more manageable. I’m now wearing a pastel, yellow-tipped French manicure that will see me into August.

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