Shiny, long-lasting, resistant, and ideal for masking nail imperfections, gel nails have become a regular part of many people’s beauty routines. But, they hide something else according to a study. Scientists observed similar patterns in tissues exposed to these dryers as in tissues with skin cancer. Gel nail polish needs UV light to harden, regularly exposing you to UV rays that can be more powerful than the sun.
According to the study, gel nails create close-up UV exposure, which when used regularly, causes skin damage, including mutations. Although the love for gelish and manicure is a constant among most women, every time they have a touch-up they are exposed to the frequency of radiation.
Gel nails can be radioactive!
Ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to set gel manicures may represent a bigger public health problem than previously thought, as researchers at the University of California, San Diego, USA, have discovered that its use generates cell death and mutations in DNA that can cause cancer. The use of these devices is very common in nail salons and they generally use a particular spectrum of ultraviolet light ranging from 340 to 395nm to dry the chemicals used in gel manicures.
To get an idea of the risk, researchers compare the risk with tanning machines that have powerful filters that emit ultraviolet radiation with a spectrum that may be even smaller than that used in nail dryers, approximately 280 to 400 nm. In the case of the use of UVA rays in tanning booths, it has been scientifically conclusively proven to be carcinogenic, but the spectrum used in nail dryers has not yet been studied.
Should you stop getting manicures for your gel nails?
Using three different cell lines, adult human skin keratinocytes, human foreskin fibroblasts, and mouse embryonic fibroblasts, the researchers found that using these UV-emitting devices for just one 20-minute session leads to between 20 and 30 percent cell death, while three consecutive 20-minute exposures caused 65 to 70 percent of exposed cells to die. Exposure to ultraviolet light also caused mitochondrial and DNA damage in remaining cells and caused mutations with patterns that can be seen in human skin cancer.
This story was written in Spanish by Perla Vallejo in Ecoosfera