Anyone heard any reason gel polish is worse than regular polish??

lpchels · Apr 3, 2017

OP and others can do a search here on AN to get some info as I stated in my OP; I found one HERE on AN that has a source from the CDC; it's about 3 years old; but does have a link to the CDC:
https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/how-do-nurses-702184-page3.html
To add: I did a Google Scholar search and found a source article that may have started the "no gel polish" rule (from 2002) that has been in effect for some time; I've been working as a nurse since 2005 years and this policy is not new, at least for me:
url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200009073431004][/url]
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Endemic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
BACKGROUND
Nosocomial infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been well described, but the environmental reservoir of the organism varies. We conducted an epidemiologic and molecular investigation of endemic P. aeruginosa infection among infants in a neonatal intensive care unit that was associated with carriage of the organisms on the hands of health care workers.
METHODS
In August 1998, colonization or infection with P. aeruginosa was identified in six infants. Surveillance cultures for P. aeruginosa were obtained from the other 27 infants in the unit, and possible environmental reservoirs were also assessed. The hands of health care workers were inspected and cultured, and risk factors for P. aeruginosa colonization were evaluated. Isolates were analyzed for clonality by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
RESULTS
Surveillance cultures showed that three additional infants were colonized with P. aeruginosa. Cultures of environmental specimens were negative, but cultures of the hands of 10 of 165 health care workers (6 percent) were positive for P. aeruginosa. Increasing age (P=0.05) and a history of the use of artificial fingernails or nail wraps (P=0.03) were both risk factors for colonization of the hands. From January 1997 to August 1998, 49 infants were infected or colonized with P. aeruginosa. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis demonstrated that 17 of these infants and 1 health care worker who had onychomycosis had the same clone. Infants who were exposed to this health care worker in August 1998 were at greater risk of having this clone than infants who were not exposed to this health care worker (odds ratio, 41.2; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.8 to 940.0; P=0.006).
CONCLUSIONS
An increased rate of infection and colonization with P. aeruginosa among infants in neonatal intensive care units should be investigated by assessing potential reservoirs, including environmental sources as well as patients and health care workers.

This has nothing to do with gel nail polish. Gel polish is a nail polish that is painted on and cures in UV light (uv light is also used to kill bacteria in different applications) similar to how glazes heat cure in many types of pottery. The polish is sealed at the tip of the nail to prevent bacteria/water/soap etc from getting between the polish and nail. This also keeps it from chipping as easily. Nail wraps are stuck on over your existing nail and can trap bacteria in between the nail and sticker.

This topic may not be as important as others but i have rather thin sharp nails and gel polish actually makes my nails less sharp and likely to scratch delicate skin. I even keep them short. So if the are not an infection control issue i would like to be able to wear the polish daily to prevent from accidentally scratching people.

Cat365 · Apr 3, 2017

I'm not sure about all departments. The ER doesn't seem to care, but the NICU has a very strict polish policy. If you show up with any polish you are provided with polish remover before you scrub into the unit. I understand that if you show up with artificial nails they hang you outside the unit from those nails to deter anyone else from trying it.