nail care and nursing

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a student still, and I'm embarassed to say I'm a nail-biter. :eek: I have tried to stop and I never have been able to. I wash my hands a lot and that helps I guess. The only thing that helped me to stop for awhile was getting sculptured nails. When I was working an office job I got very short white-tipped nails and of course they were so hard I could not bite them so I stopped trying. A year later I became a stay at home mom and did not have the budget for nails. I started biting again! :angryfire I was talking to a fellow student who has sculptured nails right now and told her I was looking forward to getting those again when I was working as a nurse, because I didn't want to bite them anymore. SHe said that sculptured nails are not allowed as a nurse because they are not sanitary.

So I guess my first question is, is that true, that they are not allowed? Even very short ones?

Secondly, what do you nail-biting nurses do? Obviously it's not a good idea for you or for patients to bite your nails.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
found this searching google:

sometimes a gap develops between the acrylic nail and the natural nail-for example, if the acrylic nail is bumped or jarred, it may separate from the natural nail. this gap provides a moist, warm environment in which bacteria and fungus can grow. if such an infection occurs, the natural nail may become thickened and discolored and should be evaluated by a dermatologist.

it was in response to a question of whether acrylic nails are harmful to your natural nails.. but i'd assume the whole 'bacteria/fungus' reason applies to use in hospitals too, you know?

i saw a patient come in with fungal sepsis related to her artificial nails. she developed dic and died. she was 33 and had two small children. is vanity worth it?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.

I use to bite my nails and always got the acrylic nails to make my fingers look less stubby. I finally stopped because I was spending $30 a week getting them filled because my nails grow really fast. A co-worker told me that she went to her MD and got a script for nail polish that has something similiar to formaldehyde to help keep them strong and to prevent her from biting them. I just went and got some Nutra Nail from CVS and after about two weeks they were past the tips of my fingers. They looked so nice that I didn't want to bite them. Now if I break one or I have to cut them for school I get a little sad because they're so nice looking naturally they grow almost with a natural French Manicure color. I also give myself a manicure every week to make them look nice and paint them in clear polish. They also sell some bitter polish at CVS to prevent you from biting but stuff like that didn't help when I was little and sucked my thumb so I doubt it would have helped me stop biting my nails.

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.

My school won't even allow nail polish for the same reason acrylic nails are banned. Bad staph infection at the local hospital and it was traced to a nurse's fingernail with chipped nail polish. The rough edge was the noted factor where the staph was growing. Just repeating what the DON of my school told the students.

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I was a very bad nail biter, my nails are also thin and break easily, i got used to the icky tasting nail polish and didn't mind it, i put hot pepper sauce on my nails and not only did it burn, i stopped biting, hopefully this may help you.

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Specializes in MICU/SICU.
i saw a patient come in with fungal sepsis related to her artificial nails. she developed dic and died. she was 33 and had two small children. is vanity worth it?

oh that's just awful! what a horrible thing to deal with as a family. so senseless...

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Family Practice.

AmericanChia, I to am a die hard nail biter. I think I started biting my nails when I got my first tooth. I went through school hiding my hands as much as possible and during clinicals, I always wore gloves. I figured with me having open areas on my nailbed that the patients were more of a risk of giving me something than me giving them something because I had nothing to give them. Now that I'm out of school, I wear acrylic nails. I no that it is a no, no, but I always wear gloves except for doing paperwork and with noninvasive things. I think that people probably look at me like I'm a nervous freak when I don't have my nails on. My nailbeds are actually deformed because of biting. I guess it depends where you work as to what you can and can't do. I work family practice and hospice and both my bosses wear acrylics and occassionally do patient care, so they don't say anything to me. During nursing school I just hid my hands as much as possible and probably wore gloves even when I didn't need to just to avoid my instructors or classmates seeing my hands. I wish you the best of luck but I do relate with you. Here I'm 36 years old and still can't keep my fingers out of my mouth. It's some type of nervous habit I can't seem to kick. You're not alone.

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As a former nail-biter for years, I understand your pain! Luckily, I stopped biting my nails long ago..what finally made me stop was sophomore year of high school, we were ordering our Junior Class rings and I didn't want to have chewed, bloody nasty looking nails when I got the ring. I finally succeeded in stopping that time.

You say you're still a student. Do you mean you are still taking pre-reqs for nursing school, are you in nursing school and haven't started clinicals or are you in school and in clinicals? I ask this because in our school (and in many that friends attend) we were told on day one, enjoy those acrylic, sculpted, artificial nails now, once we start clinicals you CAN NOT have them on at all..for any reason. We can only have natural nails, no longer than 1/4 inch over the skin, and polish can only be flesh tone, light light pink, or a french mani. I find the allowing of polish only in certain colors laughable. Its silly to say those colors are allowed..what, do those colors deter bacteria?? Do those colors not peel and chip off like the other colors? They allow those colors because you can't SEE it as much when the polish chips, peels off. But, it does, and it can end up on or in a patient just as easily as any other color.

I know that all the places we've done clinicals at, the nurses do the exact opposite of what is insisted upon for us in clinicals..hair up and off the color, no heavy perfumes, and NO artifical nails. I can't tell you how many times I've noticed nurses on the floor with hair all over the place and the nails..oh my! I cannot believe that the nurses can do anything with them. (I have had my nails long, natural nails, and I get to a point where I have to trim them because they are too difficult to do everyday things with. Let alone trying to do treatments, suppositories etc. Not to mention, the potential of scratching the pt.

I guess my best advice, and you know this already, is its best to stop biting. Not just for school but for YOU. Its very unsanitary. Think of all the things you could get on your hands..do you really want to put them in your mouth?

Best of luck, I know, its difficult to stop, but you CAN do it!

The key thing that you mentioned is LONG nails. I would completely agree with research that long nails are difficult to maintain, they are subject to lifting b/c of the pressure that they are constantly exposed to, and they are very difficult to clean on a regular basis...so I can clearly see where they are a hazard.

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Specializes in LDRP.

nail biter here and the only thing that helps is to keep them polished but i cant have polish (and am kind of freaked out by wearing polish anyway due to the germ /crack issue) during school/clinicals.

gonna start treating myself to mani's after i graduate i think. maybe buffing them to a pretty shine will help?

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Thanks so much for your support everyone! I appreciate it. I think I will try to research and come up with a plan to stop doing this. It's something I have been doing my whole life and now my two little girls are nail-biters too. :(

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nail biter here and the only thing that helps is to keep them polished but i cant have polish (and am kind of freaked out by wearing polish anyway due to the germ /crack issue) during school/clinicals.

gonna start treating myself to mani's after i graduate i think. maybe buffing them to a pretty shine will help?

I just went to the mall the other day and was stopped by one of the salespersons in the kiosks. Normally I smile and say not interested, but this guy was really nice. My nails have never been what I (or anyone else) would consider attractive. Dull, ridges, etc. He took one of my fingers and using this block, he scratched the surface of the nail, then he rubbed my nail with another side of the block. He then took acetone and wiped off all the powder residue and then.....he used the silky side of the block...OMG!!!!! Then add a tiny bit of the vitamin E oil that comes with it, and your cuticles go from looking raggedy to looking perfect. The pack comes with the block, the oil, and a body lotion (which I wasn't too crazy about). If you're interested in taking a look:

http://www.seacret.com

and look at their nail products. My nails look gorgeous with out nail polish, they look so incredibly healthy and shiny, and you only have to reapply the oil to the cuticles about once a week (according to the directions). So if you want a perfect looking set of nails without the hassle of going in for manicures or resorting to germ infested acrylics, go check out this product. My pack cost like 40 bucks and it was well worth every cent! I've NEVER been so impressed by a product before. OK, I take that back...chocolate wins.

P.S. The company uses ingredients from the dead sea. For what that's worth.

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I just went to the mall the other day and was stopped by one of the salespersons in the kiosks. Normally I smile and say not interested, but this guy was really nice. My nails have never been what I (or anyone else) would consider attractive. Dull, ridges, etc. He took one of my fingers and using this block, he scratched the surface of the nail, then he rubbed my nail with another side of the block. He then took acetone and wiped off all the powder residue and then.....he used the silky side of the block...OMG!!!!! Then add a tiny bit of the vitamin E oil that comes with it, and your cuticles go from looking raggedy to looking perfect. The pack comes with the block, the oil, and a body lotion (which I wasn't too crazy about). If you're interested in taking a look:

http://www.seacret.com

and look at their nail products. My nails look gorgeous with out nail polish, they look so incredibly healthy and shiny, and you only have to reapply the oil to the cuticles about once a week (according to the directions). So if you want a perfect looking set of nails without the hassle of going in for manicures or resorting to germ infested acrylics, go check out this product. My pack cost like 40 bucks and it was well worth every cent! I've NEVER been so impressed by a product before. OK, I take that back...chocolate wins.

P.S. The company uses ingredients from the dead sea. For what that's worth.

Can I ask if you could provide a more specific link? I am interested in the product, but there are hundreds of products on the page you linked.

Thank you!:)

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