Spring is here, but is it time to start painting your nails? During the winter months I always advise giving your toe nails a rest from wearing varnish. Covering nails up with varnish can hide potentially developing fungal infections. The risk continues with wearing socks, tights and enclosed footwear. This is all conducive in helping to create the right conditions for infections to flourish. Think of mushrooms growing in the dark, add moisture and warmth and off they sprout! The problem with then applying varnish is that you cannot see an infection develop, so a nice winter sabbatical gives nails a chance to get healthy and ‘breathe’ for awhile, but as soon as the daffodils start blooming the Spring make-over begins, and the nail varnish comes out! Painted toenails make us feel cheerful and look gorgeous, making the Hobbit feet look attractive again, but be careful. Fungal dermaphytes are opportunist, they can evade undetected into a nail plate from the free edge inwards. Women then can make matters worse by just re-applying varnish to chipped nails which increases the thickness of the nail and traps in more infective spores. Please ensure before you start reapplying your nail varnishes that you have checked your nails for damage and discolouration. This could be fungus. If you are not sure please get it checked out.
There is a current trend to apply UV gels to toenails which i would not recommend. Yes they last longer than conventional varnishes, but they were not primarily designed for toenails. Gels are not as flexible as varnishes which can be problematic for toes. Toenails need to flex to be resistant to ground contact forces, if they are not they can get damaged, become painful and could ingrow. Small breaks in the free edge of the nail plate allows fungal dermaphytes a point of entry. To compound the issue further acetone is required to soak off the gels. Acetone is shown to thin nails up to 50%, leaving them in a poor condition and vulnerable to fungus.
If all this was not bad enough there are many potentially carcinogenic chemicals in nail varnishes, and the use of UV light to set gel nails is said to increase the risk of skin cancer, although the risk is quite minimum, but it does make you think twice.
On a good note natural UV light hibits fungal spores, so get those toes out in your favourite sandals, and go nude if you dare! Bare nails are best, but not so much fun. At Compleet Feet we have a range of Dr Remedy specialist nail varnishes in lots of glorious colours which keep nails healthy and help to inhibit fungal nail infections so you can have the best of both worlds, but just remember to remove and reapply varnish once a week to be safe!
