Beauty Blogger Shows the Damage Acrylic Nails Can Do

British beauty blogger Amelia Rushmore-Perrin shared with her followers how damaging acrylic nails can be. She posted a photo on social media of her torn and bleeding nail beds after removing the acrylics herself.

“A lot of people on [Q&A site] curiouscat ask me about my acrylics, presumably wanting a set themselves,” Rushmore-Perrin wrote on Twitter. “Sharing these to show u the reality lol.”

The 20-year-old blogger from Essex, U.K., added in a follow-up tweet: “Nearly cried in the shower at the hot water touching my nail beds and I’m pretty sure there’s still loads of shampoo left in my hair. Don’t even care how they look it’s the physical PAIN dear lord.”

Rushmore-Perrin told the Daily Mail that she’s been getting acrylic nails for six years. “I get them done professionally and usually get them removed professionally, but I didn’t have time,” she said. “One nail had come off and I didn’t want to have nine nails on so I started peeling and snapping them off. I then soaked the remains off in acetone.”

To repair her nails, Rushmore-Perrin shared on social media that she started taking biotin supplements. Within five days, her damaged nails started to look healthier:

Despite the pain she had been in, the beauty blogger went straight back to acrylics shortly after her nails had healed. “Acrylics make me feel more put together so I always like to have them done,” she said. “I prefer the look of long fake nails than real ones as they chip easier and sometimes look dirty and bendy.”

But acrylics come with a price, particularly if that’s your go-to nail style. “Acrylic nails can cause many problems to the nail directly and to the skin around the nail,” Michele J. Farber, M.D., of Schweiger Dermatology Group, in New York City, tells Yahoo Beauty. “The nail bed can be left very red and irritated from allergic reactions to the harsh chemicals in the glues, including formaldehyde and acrylates, used to apply acrylic nails. If longer acrylic nails snag or collect water, they can also provide a breeding ground for bacteria and increase infection risk. Over time, acrylic nails can cause thinning of the natural nail and cause breakage.”

Farber says it does help to take a hiatus to let your nails heal and breathe, but even that has its limitations. “It can help to take a break, as your skin and nails can start to resolve to their normal state,” she notes. “However, wearing acrylic nails again can cause the same reactions, especially if you are prone to allergies from the chemicals that they contain. Removing the nails will also cause the same mechanical damage and predispose to the same infectious and allergic risks, so it is safest to avoid acrylic nails.”

To strengthen weak nails, Farber recommends taking an over-the-counter biotin supplement, as Rushmore-Perrin did. “I typically recommend a dose of 5 milligrams daily when nails are thin or weak,” she says. “It’s the best vitamin for hair, skin, and nails.”

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