Painfully Polished
Gel pedicures are pretty—until your toenails come off…
Pedicures make for a pretty perf pampering sesh. Gel pedicures—a growing trend—add the ability to freely use your feet and immediately throw your socks and shoes back on thanks to the instantly dried polish via UV/LED nail lamps. But before you go shelling out the extra cash, what you could be paying for is “permanent damage—and even, in rare cases, extreme injury or deformity,” says Dr. Eldon C. Peters, AACFAS, medical director of Raleigh’s InStride Capital Foot & Ankle Centers, Five Points office.
In April, I walked 12 miles at Dreamville with a gel pedicure—resulting in significant pain, bruising and infection, toe sprain (thought to be fractured), ultimate nail removal of both big toes and potential permanent toe damage. Before anyone goes blaming my shoes, the cause—point blank—was simply walking in any closed-toe shoe with a gel pedicure. And, at that distance, according to my podiatrist, I unknowingly “obliterated” my toes. After a misguided urgent care visit and a lot of pain and misinformation (everything I was told or read was wrong), we decided to use Raleigh Mag as a platform to bring my painful misadventures and the reality of the very real dangers of gel pedicures to the general public in hopes of preventing future injuries. Here, we tapped Dr. Peters about why gel pedicures—while (painfully) pretty—may not be practical.
Q&A:
Your take on gel pedicures? Gel pedicures or artificial nails are always dangerous because the nail is too stiff and can damage the real nail or the cells that grow a nail.
How often do you see gel pedi-related injuries? I see about five to 10 per month, but I have definitely seen an uptick in patients very concerned about the cosmetics of their nails.
Possible injuries that can occur? Onychogryphosis (a permanent ram’s horn-style nail), paronychia, pyogenic granuloma, cellulitis, toe fracture, subungual exostosis, bone infection (extremely rare).
How can a gel pedi cause toe fracture? The gel is too stiff and cannot allow the toenail to flex appropriately. The toe needs to be flexible to adjust to the pounding effect of walking and shoe-wearing.
What’s the most severe case you’ve seen? A 25-year-old with Type 1 diabetes mellitus lost her toe. But a vast majority of patients are fixed in the office with minimal long-term effects.
What to do if you suffer an injury? Soak the toe in salt water, and scrub with nail brush and soapy water, plus a drop of rubbing alcohol. No Neosporin (too moist) and no Band-Aid (too moist). If after a week it does not get better, seek medical help.
How common is total removal/toenail avulsion as a result of gel pedi? Very. Most folks come to me after the problem is so bad that I have to remove the nail—or even remove the nail permanently so it never grows back.
Healing time post-removal? Pain varies widely. But you can wear open-toed shoes the same day, and can return to activity once pain has subsided.
About that permanent damage… A nail growth cycle is about a year in adults, so you have to wait one to two nail cycles to see if the damage is permanent. … There is not much someone can do if the nail is nonfungal, but is traumatized and damaged.
Why are gel pedis on offer if they can cause permanent damage? I really don’t think the salons know. We need
more awareness.
What about gel manicures? Totally fine. People like the durability. …
So why if it works on your fingers does it not work on your toes? Because your hands don’t go in your shoes.
And non-gel pedis? Non-gel pedicures are only dangerous if they aggressively scrape or dig around the nail border, which can violate the protective seal of the skin-nail boundary. Or, some people who get chronic pedicures can have toenails that become radically misshapen and deformed due to the scraping of the nail—a cause-and-effect relationship that I don’t think has been linked up.
When, if ever, is a gel pedi OK—think toes in the sand, drink in your hand? Yes… they are OK as long as you never wear a closed-toe shoe.