I finished TAX at the end of July and my fingernails are looking disgusting. They’ve gone a funny colour and look like they’re lifting off. How long is it before they get back to normal?
My daughter says mine look like crinkle cut crisps. Finished chemo in July, all nails present ans correct.
Don’t know. Mine are lifting, but underneath is new nail. Just look bitten. Finished chemo same sort of time as you … Jane
Hi Buzzy
My last TAX was 9th June, nails started to lift approx 4 weeks later, some have now lifted twice and I recon it will be another 4 weeks before they look normal again. I paint on a clear nail strengthener and also pink nail varnish so that at least from a distance they do not look too bad!
Daisy xx
Sorry, forgot to say, when the first ones lifted there was not much nail underneath and was quite painful but now there is good nail under anything that peels off.
Buzzy I am just about to have the “taxing Tax”. Did you use cool gloves or frozen peas? I don’t know whether to or not. Looking at other postings many people say it takes quite a few months before they get back to normal.
I wonder what ELTTKS did to keep hers.
Hope they are sorted soon
Cackles
I had tax last yr + had nail probs after. Thought I’d escaped losing nails but after 2 months, lost 2 toenails!! Didn’t actually lose any full Finger nails but they were very ridgy + did lift. I have good strong nails so I think that helped, + I kept them really short + painted black throughout chemo + for several months after. 12 months on, my toe nails are still dodgy- currently got 2 very bruised looking nails, despite them recovering from the tax eventually. Bizarre! Finger nails are great, took about 3months to grow out the ridges.
Good luck ladies x
I finished Tax 4 years past June and I’m afraid my nails are still crap! The one on my wedding finger keeps trying to split right up the middle and the rest just flake and are ridgy. The only thing I can do is keep them as short as poss. I’ve tried all the different Sally Hansen stuff and the rest, but still no better.
Cackles, i’ve always had long, strong nails and they still keep growing, abet crinkle cut.
I didn’t use cool gloves and I didn’t paint my nails either. Maybe I should have. Although I did keep my toenails painted throughout and one still fell off and another is black so I don’t know if that would’ve helped
I did try the cooling and this is the result:
Left hand - no cooling due to canula - all the nails really bad and still dont look brilliant
right hand - frozen peas in cool bag - mostly OK, thumb and index finger lifted but not until much later when there was good nail underneath, now all nearly back to normal
Both feet - sat with them in a large cool bag with 3 ice blocks - all OK
I also kept them all painted dark throughout and after.
I would definitely recommend the cooling and if your hospital does the gloves & socks go for it!
Daisy xx
Buzzy- last tax was 3 weeks ago, i have 1 toenail and no fingernails. Fingernails kinda bubbled and came of in layers. They are horrible.lol. Just another thing to feel good about !!!
Lorna x
Oh you poor thing! At least mine aren’t that bad …yet! lol
My fingernails were painted all through taxotere, in dark colours.
None went black or fell off but they have gone orange with ridges. 2 months from last chemo and half are the normal colour, half orange and still got crinkle cut ridges on them, they look quite horrible but I’ve got to the point where most of the time I don’t care what I look like. BUT i do have my “mirror moments” when I think “OMG what a state I look :(” - I’ve got chins from hell, I’ve put on loads more weight, I have tiger belly fuzz head, cold sores on cupids bow, scant eyelashes and now body hair is growing like weed all over me. Some of my eyebrows are growing back in places where they’d gone very fine but I can’t remember what shape I did them before! LOL.
The effect it has one our appearance is a lot to deal with and I was definitely not high maintenance before.
Hi all,
The lines or ridges are called beaus lines caused by the chemo, you should see 1 ridge for each chemo session. They normally break off as the tissue underneath is dead, they will grow back. I finished chemo at the beginning of June and mine are slowly getting back to normal, I tended to keep mine painted, but as they arnt that bad now I have painted them with nail conditioner
Hope that helps, it does get better.
Jill x
I’ve got one more TAX to go. My nails on hands and feet are very tender and 2 toes have gone a horrible grey too.
Both my large toe nails look as though they will probably end up coming
off and feet hurt in closed in shoes and even under the duvet.
Hands look better so far, have the ridges and orangey colour as El K
describes. Have taken the varnish off to have a look, will probably paint dark again tomorrow.
It doesn’t feel or look very feminine. I miss my nice nails, but some of your comments reassure me they are likely to recover eventually.
No cooling offered at our chemo unit. Have only seen 1 lady using cold cap and no hands or feet or bags of peas etc.
Hi, I finished FEC-T 5 months ago and my finger nails are now finally smooth and clear, I cannot stop stroking them! They all went yellow and were very painful, and peeled off in stages until now grown out.
So, have faith they DO come back! They are very short but I’m hoping to book my first manicure soon 
(I painted my finger nails dark purple during treatment and didn’t show my toes to light, only one toenail died).