Medial Nail Dystrophy

Social Media queries about medial nail dystrophy rising

Up until about a year ago, I wasn’t even aware of this condition and now I’m seeing about 1 a week on social media asking for advice.

I wondered if it could be anything to do with vibrations from an e-file, as removing gel polish with an e-file when it has a 2-3 week growth has become very popular. So I contacted our expert dermatologist, Vitaly Solomonoff.

There is clearly some damage or disruption to the matrix. It does sometimes appear to have a systemic health cause but he had this to say:

While you notice 1 case per week, I can state 2-3. I predicted the mass epidemy of the nail/matrix dystrophy many years ago when the e-file manicure just gained in popularity. You are correct – that is one of the consequences of the most traumatic method of manicure – the continuous traumatization and chronic inflammation. You are perhaps aware of the fast-growing trend of applying the product under the cuticle. That sounds scary, doesn’t it?

So, they remove the cuticle, then separate it with the needle-type e-file bit, apply a product literally under the cuticle, and cure it. So, eventually, we have:-

1) mechanical trauma in the matrix area.
2) “heat spikes” during polymerization at the same area.

So, no wonder that the condition that resembles medial dystrophy appears quickly after that repetitive traumatization. And yes, vibration also takes place here as an additional factor for damage. 

P.S. I should note that the new trend is spreading among those who are involved in the nail competitions.

The instances of the condition are clearly growing and everyone should be aware of it and how some may be caused.

Please review further information here on Heller’s medial nail dystrophy