Gel nails are under some serious scrutiny at the moment. First, a study published by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that radiation emitted from UV lamps, which cure gel polish to your nails, leads to cancer-causing mutations in human cells.
Now dermatologists warn that they are increasingly treating people for allergic reactions to gel nails – claims that the UK government is taking so seriously the Office for Product Safety and Standards is investigating. So, how alarmed should we be?
Gel nails and allergic reactions
According to Dr Deirdre Buckley of the British Association of Dermatologists, there have been reports of people’s nails falling off, skin rashes and even, in rarer cases, breathing difficulties. The root cause of these reactions in some people is an allergy to methacrylate chemicals, which are used to bond the gel to the nail.
One culprit it seems is some DIY gel kits as the UV lamps don’t work with every type of gel polish. The lamps also have to be the correct number watts (at least 36 watts) and wavelength in order to properly cure the gel, otherwise these chemicals can penetrate the nail bed and surrounding skin.
More worrying still is that an allergy to acrylates, which are also used in white dental fillings and joint replacement surgery, can leave sufferers too sensitised to have either treatment.
Are UV lamps for gel nails safe?
UV lamps are a common fixture in nail salons around the world. The light boxes and lamps used at nail salons emit UVA light at a spectrum of 340-395nm to set the gel polish. This is different to sunbeds, which use a spectrum of 280-400nm and have conclusively been proven to be carcinogenic.
And yet, over the years, there’s been rumblings of UV nail lamps being potentially harmful to the skin, but no hard scientific evidence ever came to light to back up these theories – until now.
There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s start with the most recent FDA ruling. In 2017 the FDA classed UV lamps for gel nails as “low risk” for developing skin cancer. The FDA hasn’t changed its stance (yet), but understandably the findings of this new study has ramped up the risk level for many.
The first thing the University of California study reveals is that UV lamps can kill cells. After just 20 minutes of exposing petri dishes containing cells from humans and mice to a UV lamp, 20% to 30% of the cells died. After three consecutive 20-minute sessions, 65% to 70% of cells died.
What this tells us is the more frequent the exposure to UV nail lamps, the higher the rate of cell death.
But what rings alarm bells for skin experts is the DNA damage in the cells left behind, which showed mutations that can be observed in skin cancer patients. Dr Ophelia Veraitch, consultant dermatologist at GetHarley, explains that even though UVA nail lamps may not be equivalent to sitting out in the sun unprotected, “this study further adds to the evidence that UVA can also damage DNA and lead to skin cancer development,” she says.