The Hidden Dangers of Acrylic Nails and Gel Nail Polish: Allergic Reactions and Health Risks

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Fake nails, they look very nice. But most people probably don’t know that they can cause a serious allergic reaction with enormous consequences.

The substances in nail products such as acrylic nails, gel nails or gel nail polish that ensure that the product hardens and stays on your nail are called acrylates. They have different names. The most commonly used in gel nail polish are HEMA and Di-HEMA.

These acrylates ensure that a liquid product can become firm, or harden. In the case of gel nail polish, this is done, for example, by holding the nails under a special UV/LED lamp.

Red fingers and cracks

Thomas Rustemeyer is professor of Dermatology and Allergology at the Amsterdam UMC. He sees many patients with a so-called acrylic allergy due to the use of nail products.

Rustemeyer explains that an allergy is built up by contact of the product with the skin. If you are unlucky, you suddenly develop an allergic reaction to it. From that moment on you will notice symptoms such as redness, flakes, cracks and sensitivity around the nails. Once you have an allergy, you can never get rid of it. And every time you come into contact with acrylics, the reaction will be more intense.

This allergic reaction is caused by so-called acrylates. That is a collective name for different types of plastics. Nail products usually contain the acrylic types HEMA or DI-HEMA. These are needed to harden the nail polish or artificial nail.

This curing is usually done using a UV or LED lamp. The light causes the small individual acrylic particles to bond together. This makes it one big whole. This way you get sturdy, shiny nails that do not break easily.

If it has not yet hardened, those small acrylic particles can easily penetrate your skin. Your immune system can then wrongly see them as enemies and react accordingly. Then you develop an allergy.

No more teeth due to artificial nails

Albert Feilzer, from ACTA (Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam), also sees an increase in patients who have developed acrylic allergies and is concerned. Because once you have developed an acrylic allergy from nail products such as gel nail polish, the consequences are much greater than sore fingers.

These acrylics are also used in many medical treatments, including dental treatments such as fillings or dentures. This means that you can no longer tolerate it and your body will continue to give an allergic reaction as long as it is in contact with this acrylic and can reject it. So it is possible that something as seemingly innocent as beautiful nails can cause you to develop an allergy that also means that you can no longer get help from the dentist if there is something wrong with your teeth. And that is not all.

Rejection of prostheses and other medical devices

Apart from dental materials, there are many more medical treatments that incorporate these acrylics. Think of pacemakers, different types of prostheses, bone cement, electrodes to make an ECG, coating of implants, hearing aids, wound dressings, glucose sensors for diabetes, insulin pump systems, and more. This is probably not what you think about when having your nails made beautiful, but it can be a consequence.

Regulations

You can go to the nail salon, but you can also get started at home with a gel nail polish set and accompanying lamp. According to current EU legislation and regulations, these products must carry a warning: Only for professional use and may cause an allergic reaction.

We bought gel nail polish for home use from Pink Gellac, Etos and Douglas that contains acrylics. We then call customer service to find out to what extent we are informed that an acrylic allergy can develop and what the consequences are. This is disappointing in all cases, the customer service employees do not tell you this.

Work neatly

Loes Rikkers from the ARCH training course for nail stylists confirms that they are also seeing a huge increase in acrylic allergies. Loes explains that this can happen due to incorrect application, resulting in contact with the skin, but also due to insufficient or incorrect hardening of the product, which causes it to release molecules in contact with the skin.

According to Rikkers, the risk of developing an allergy would remain “nil” if the work was done neatly by a professional nail stylist with sufficient expertise.

Comments

Pink Gellac, the largest player in gel nail polish on the Dutch market, informed Kassa that the majority of their range consists of products that are HEMA-free. The HEMA substance is therefore not included. On its website, Pink Gellac writes that it favors HEMA-free products to “ensure that you do not get an allergic reaction even with long-term use.”

Is this a safe alternative? Unfortunately not. Kassa presents this to Professor Rustemeyer. He explains that in this case there is no HEMA in the product but a different acrylic, and that you can also become allergic to that acrylic with the same serious consequences. After Kassa presented this to Pink Gellac, this sentence was removed from the website. Pink Gellac states that they have never had any complaints of an allergic reaction to their HEMA-free products. Pink Gellac further says: “Of course, the user instructions must be followed for all our products. For example, we always recommend preventing the gel polish from touching the skin and choosing a lamp that is from the same brand as the polish you are using for optimal curing.” The You can read the full response here (in pdf).

We also asked Etos and Douglas, where we bought gel nail polish sets for home use, for a response. The response from Etos, on behalf of the producer in question, you can read here (in PDF). Douglas has not yet responded.

2023-11-25 18:22:17
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