Filing your nails could make them crack

299 Buffing up before a gel manicure at Jekyll&Hyde in Morningside Shopping Centre. 250310. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

299 Buffing up before a gel manicure at Jekyll&Hyde in Morningside Shopping Centre. 250310. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Nov 12, 2014

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London - Filing your nails every day may give you immaculate hands – but the result may be short lived.

Trimming and filing them regularly may create conditions that eventually cause nails to crack, split and bend, scientists have found.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have analysed the impact of clipping, trimming or filing finger nails.

They say that removing new nail growth too often could lead them to become horribly deformed in the long term.

And the experts believe the emergence of nail salons could be part of the problem.

The research team discovered that if a nail grows too quickly or slowly, or the number of microscopic structures that bind the nail to the finger changes, a residual stress across the entire nail can occur.

That stress can result in a whole range of conditions, including ingrown toe nails, spoon nails – where the nail develops ridges – along with more common splitting, splintering or cracking.

Lead author Cyril Rauch, whose paper was published in the journal Physical Biology, said: “It is remarkable what some people are willing to do to make their nails look good.”

People who insist on regularly clipping or filing their nails should choose a simple shape to minimise the damage, he added. - Daily Mail

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