You also run the risk of skin cancer at the nail studio, warns the KWF Cancer Control. The nail dryers that are used to quickly dry gel polish also contain lamps with UV radiation. And if you get that on your skin for too long, too much and unprotected, it increases the risk of skin cancer. The KWF therefore advises against the use of those lamps. And dermatologists Angelina Erceg and Gertruud Krekels are jumping for joy. “We’ve been calling this as dermatologists for a long time.”
Many of the drying lamps in a nail salon use a UV light technique to quickly dry gel polish on the nails. Also the LED lamps. And that UV radiation increases the risk of skin cancer. Just like a sunbed does. “The higher and longer the wavelength of the UV light, the deeper it penetrates the skin and the more skin damage it causes,” explains dermatologist Angelina Erceg of Amphia Hospital. “Lamps of nail stylists have a longer wavelength. And they cause damage.”
“Nowadays everything is carcinogenic. It doesn’t bother me too much.”
Nail stylists themselves find it a bit exaggerated. “Oh god”, stylist Daisy Madina from Eindhoven immediately responds. “What nonsense.” She herself uses a UV-LED lamp in her nail studio. She does not really see the evil of the lamps. “Nowadays everything is carcinogenic. It doesn’t bother me too much.”
The stylists are especially skeptical because customers only have to put their fingers under the lamp for a few seconds. “Negligible”, says salon owner Heilke de Been from Etten-Leur. Each session she applies a base, build, color and top coat to her clients. “Four times two minutes under the lamp,” she explains. “That’s about eight minutes a month. I thought about it, but also let it go quickly. You’re only under it for such a short time.”
“As a salon, at least tell people, especially if skin cancer runs in the family.”
Nevertheless, dermatologist Gertruud Krekels, from skin center Mohsa in Bladel and Eindhoven, thinks it is very good that the KWF advises against the lamps. “The devil is in the dose, even if you only get eight minutes of radiation a month. UV accumulates and does a little damage each time.”
A ban goes very far, but a warning is definitely in order, she thinks. “As a salon, at least tell people, especially if it occurs in the family. And try to protect yourself as a customer at other times.” For example, by placing a tube of sunscreen with at least SPF 25 next to your toothpaste, the dermatologist advises. “Or wear gloves to the nail salon,” Erceg adds. “That way the skin doesn’t have to get all those UV layers.”