Removal of nail varnish for surgery...

Hi all
Im due to have my surgery next saturday, and have just been reading some of the leaflets that I’ve had for ages, but not really read properly… anyway, it says that you have to remove all nail varnish before surgery, nobody had actually told me this, and I wouldn’t have known unless I’d read it… so I was wondering why this is?
Since having the Taxotere my nails are absolutely wrecked, they are covered in dark and yellowish patches, they look really disgusting and I wear dark red nail varnish all the time to hide them. Dont really want to take it off, but I will.
So if anyone knows why this is, would appreciate it.
Thanks guys
Take care
Wendy xx

Hi Wendy

Any surgery requires nail varnish to be removed, not exactly sure why, but its something to do with the nails changing colour if there are any problems when you are under anaesthetic.

Good luck x

Hi Wendy Hope your surgery goes well. The reason that we are advised to remove nail varnish is that the nail beds when pressed go white (ish) then come back to being pale pink. This gives the anaesthetist an indication of how well or not perfusion is going ( that is circulation)You can test this yourself by pressing on a nail it goes paler then when the pressure is removed returns to pink. You can have your polish put back on asap after surgery. Hope this helps.Jackie

Hi Wendy,
You need to remove nail varnish for all surgery, it is so the anaesthatist can check that you are being perfused to your extremeties. Ie that blood is getting right out to your extremeties.
Good Luck,
Jano x

I think it’s a bit of a tale that it’s essential for nail polish to be removed in order for the anaesthetist to check your circulation; there are some rather more sophisticated ways of doing this I think.

I have had 2 ops in the past year (breast and shoulder) and on both occasions was “allowed” to keep my toe nail polish.
Like you Wendy, I didn’t know about this ruling and actually only found out, on the first occasion, just before the op. I said I wasn’t happy about having to remove it at that late stage - and nothing more was said - certainly no-one insisted then - or before my second op either

HI
It is finger nail varnish that you are encouraged to remove, it can be used to check circulation and is often used to check pulse. You may have had the clip put on your finger tip to check your oxygen level this is often used in operations, nail varnish would interfere with it. Toe nail varnish should be no problem unless you were having an operation on your legs.

Hi Wendy,

Take the nail polish off because finger nails are the first to show if your body is short of oxygen. Your nails may look a mess but being safe is more important. Take some nail oil to hospital with you and as soon as you feel up to it start using it a few times a day. It will help your nails to stop breaking up so much.

best wishes,

E

Hi Wendy
As a nurse who works in theatres & a BC patient as well( 2 years post mastectomy) nail varnish can interfere with the monitors used to measure the oxygen in your blood during the operation. As we BC ladies have our ops on the upper part of our body occasionally the toes can be the area used to monitor oxygenation.It helps if a patient has no nail varnish as we in theatre can keep you as safe as possible during your procedure.However, you can always check with the anaesthetist before your operation if you feel quite strongly about this & I’m sure they will accommodate you if they can do so safely. Hope this helps.
Sue x

Thank you so much for all your replies… That was interesting to find out why the nail polish needs to be removed, and I shall have no hesitation to do it, knowing its important to do so.
Thanks also for the tip on using nail oil, I shall be getting some asap…
Thanks again
Wendy x