Cuticles on fingers. Causes of burrs and ways to combat them

The main reason for the appearance of hangnails is dry skin, which occurs with frequent contact with water, household chemicals, paper, as well as wind and frost. An unbalanced diet, or more precisely, a deficiency of fats and vitamins A and E, may also be to blame for the lack of moisture.

Those who like to bite their nails also suffer from hangnails, as this unsightly habit weakens the nail bed and leads to microtrauma to the skin around the nail plate.

A poorly done manicure can also play a role, especially if the cuticle is cut off.

Finally, the state of health in general and the digestive system in particular plays an important role.

If you watch your diet, take care of the skin of your hands and do not have the habit of biting your nails, but hangnails still do not go away, this is a good reason to consult a doctor.

How to prevent hangnails

The best means of prevention is to protect your hands from anything that dries your skin, as well as regular use of moisturizing cosmetics. Therefore, it is advisable to do all housework with rubber gloves and apply cream to your hands as needed, and not just before bed.

Make sure your diet includes foods rich in fats and vitamins: fish, vegetable oils, nuts, vegetables, fruits and herbs.

Get a hygienic manicure regularly, preferably unedged. Instead of cutting the cuticle, rub special oil into it and gently push it with an orange stick to the base of the nail. If you can’t completely avoid trimmed manicures, do them as rarely as possible so that the skin has time to recover.

Not . This not only leads to the formation of hangnails, but also increases the risk of infection of the wound by bacteria living in the oral cavity. And getting bacteria into your mouth from your hands can have very unpleasant consequences.

Smussyolay/flickr.com

Give preference to nail polish remover without acetone. Products with ethyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol and propylene carbonate do not dry the skin as much. It would be nice if the liquid contained glycerin or oil extracts.

Do not overuse quick-drying nail polishes, as they not only quickly harden themselves, but also instantly dry out the skin around the nail.

How to properly remove burrs

If it’s too late to do prevention and unpleasant pieces of dry skin are puffing up on your hands, then there’s nothing left to do but get rid of them. But removing does not mean biting off, tearing off or tearing off. Here's how to do it correctly:

1. Soak your fingers in a bath of warm water and a few drops of vitamin E or olive oil.
2. Trim the hangnail flush with the skin using sharp scissors or nail clippers. Do not pull or pull: this may injure the skin. And try not to cut off too much so that a wound does not form.
3. Lubricate the cut with antibacterial ointment: this will prevent infection and speed up healing.
4. If you had to remove a large hangnail that had become severely torn from the skin, cover the cut with a band-aid.
5. If the patch is of no use, moisten the cut. Vitamin E or moisturizer is suitable for this. Apply the product several times throughout the day, especially after contact with water.

What happens if you get hangnails, and how to treat it

A hangnail that is not treated in time can lead to inflammation of the nail fold, also called paronychia or periungual felon. If the skin around the hangnail is red, swollen, or purulent, this indicates a bacterial or fungal infection.

At the initial stage of inflammation, when the area around the hangnail is red and slightly swollen, warm water baths can help. They need to be done 2-3 times a day.

If after 3-4 days the inflammation does not go away or progresses, you should consult a doctor. You will most likely be prescribed a course of antibiotics, and if it does fester, you may need to drain the infected area of ​​skin.

If you are diagnosed with fungal paronychia, you will be prescribed appropriate antifungal medications.

No matter how beautifully the nails are processed, the resulting hangnail can not only spoil the appearance of the hands, but also spoil the quality of life of their owner, trying to catch on everything that comes under the fingers - tights and gloves being worn; a wallet from which you need to get money, or a pocket with keys in it. And if its continued existence is left to chance, then this insignificant piece of keratinized skin can tear the surrounding skin, opening the gate for infection, and then disaster is just around the corner.

Causes of appearance in adults and children

Hangnails are formed due to a rupture of the nail fold, which most often occurs on the side surface of the nail. With their constant formation, you need to thoroughly reconsider your habits and diet - they are usually the cause of the appearance of microtraumas that can result in painful inflammation and even an abscess around the nail. An unbalanced diet, working in aggressive environments, carelessness with your hands, or bad habits may be to blame.

A hangnail may appear due to carelessness in hand care.

The most common cause of hangnails is dry skin.. The nail fold loses its elasticity and bursts even with weak impact. Your hands (especially your fingers) get the worst of it every day. Whatever a person does, almost everything happens with their participation - contacts with shoes, clothes, bags, detergents, food, handrails in public transport, pens, keys, paper, hot and cold air, dry earth and hot sand. Many factors try to dry out the skin day by day:

• Carelessness in everyday life. Contact with detergents and washing powders, prolonged exposure of hands to water without the use of protective gloves.
• Negligence. If you do not use peeling for your hands and fingers, then the growing and thickening layer of keratinized skin will accumulate, try to peel off, and sooner or later it will crack.
• Work accompanied by factors that aggressively affect the skin. It’s not just contact with chemicals that has harmful effects. Office employees who frequently come into contact with paper documents are also at risk - paper draws out moisture, dries out and degreases the skin of the fingers.
• Careless behavior in the open air (working in the country or relaxing on the beach) leads to roughening and drying of the skin. Earth and sand draw out moisture no worse than a sponge, the sun dries and degreases.
• A lack of vitamins, in particular A and E, has a very negative effect on the condition of the skin.
• A dry cuticle (the edge of the nail fold, the epithelium that fits tightly to the nail and does not allow bacteria to penetrate into its growth zone) definitely gives rise to hangnails. With careless care, its outer edge gradually dies, dries out and cracks.
• Poor quality manicure. The tweezers should be perfectly sharp and cut the skin around the nail like butter. Poor quality nippers injure the cut site, leaving micro-fringe.
• Diseases of the digestive system. Due to intestinal problems, the body does not absorb nutrients well and does not receive enough vitamins and minerals.
• Children are not the only ones who have the habit of biting their nails. Adults are guilty of this when they are nervous, thinking, watching TV or don’t know what to do. Teeth damage the delicate skin around the nail.
• Inattentive attitude of adults to the condition of the child’s hands. Little fidgets, exploring the world, constantly play in the sand or earth while walking - collecting pebbles and glass, building sand towers and making Easter cakes. For delicate children's fingers, this is a difficult test, leading to dryness and injury.

Not only children, but also many adults bite their nails.

If you ignore the appearance of a hangnail or incorrectly try to get rid of it, the nail fold may become inflamed, and subsequently the entire finger.

Why do abscesses and abscesses appear and a finger swell?

Inflammation is most often caused by a clumsy attempt to get rid of a hangnail. The following methods are mainly used (especially in childhood):

• grab with teeth and bite off or pull and tear off;
• hook it with your nails and tear it off, and to make it easier to tear it off, first pick it;
• try to cut without steaming the skin.

The first two methods can be considered barbaric - the hangnail comes off with a piece of nearby skin, leaving a painful wound-microtrauma on the finger. Bacteria do not sleep, they immediately penetrate the wound and the inflammatory process is already ready. Next - depending on your luck. It may hurt and go away, or it may fester and turn into panaritium.

A severed hangnail leaves a wound that can become inflamed.

The seriousness of the situation should not be underestimated if inflammation begins. Measures not taken in time lead to serious consequences, including surgical intervention. You need to be especially careful with children's fingers - the child's immunity is less stable.

Fighting hangnails: how to remove and treat

It is unacceptable to ignore burrs, especially large ones. But we must approach the matter thoughtfully and, if they appear frequently, try to identify and eliminate the cause.

We drink vitamin complexes

Often the body lacks some vitamins, which immediately affects the condition of the skin. Let's look at how you can treat this problem:

• Vitamin A gives the skin smoothness, elasticity and moisture;
• B vitamins provide timely nutrition and renewal;
• vitamin C strengthens resistance to harmful factors and ultraviolet radiation, regulates the production of collagen, which is responsible for elasticity;
• vitamin E promotes elasticity and regeneration;
• Vitamin PP ensures normal fat balance.

How to get rid of it using traditional means

A magic remedy for getting rid of hangnails has not yet been invented, so the traditional method is most often used - trimming with nail clippers with a triangular tip, ensuring a tight fit to the skin. A quality tool leaves nearby flesh unharmed. Fingers need to be steamed first, otherwise you can get microtrauma and inflammation.

The most gentle way to trim hangnails is to use cuticle trimmers

Traditional methods

Baths with essential oils, medicinal herbs, baking soda, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt will help make your skin elastic, smooth, beautiful, strengthen your nails and resist the appearance of hangnails.

How to delete and is it worth it at all? Is it possible to tear it off?

A clinging hangnail can tear the skin and fungi or bacteria get into the wound, which will end in a purulent abscess. Therefore, it is imperative to remove, especially large ones. But do this only after softening the skin with a 15-minute bath with chamomile decoction, which has anti-inflammatory and disinfectant properties. Baking soda added to warm water softens well (a teaspoon per glass).

The blades of the cutting tool are brought under the very root of the hangnail parallel to the edge of the nail. If you cannot avoid a cut, treat it with iodine or brilliant green and cover your finger with a bactericidal bandage.

For a child, a hangnail is removed in the same way, but during this time the baby needs to be occupied with something - let him watch cartoons or listen to an audiobook. You can put a small toy, multi-colored glass pebbles or large beads in the water - let him sort it out. It is convenient to carry out the procedure after a bath, while the skin is moist and elastic.

How to wean a child from cutting

The little fidget is just learning about the world and learning to distinguish bad from good. Start with yourself - what if your child copies your habits? Then it won't stop while you bite your nails and pull off hangnails. If this is not the case, the child needs to be explained, and perhaps more than once, why this should not be done. When the baby does not want to give up biting his nails and hangnails, you will have to patiently and unobtrusively make comments until the bad habit recedes. And if he is still too small to understand intelligible arguments, you can use a special varnish with a bitter taste. When the habit is stronger than all the methods used, it’s time to contact a child psychologist.

What to do if your finger starts to itch and hurts

At the first signs of inflammation, experts recommend the use of Dermozolon ointment, which is used for inflammatory dermatitis complicated by infection, or traditional medicine recipes:

• If inflammation develops, dissolve a tablespoon of soda in half a liter of warm water and hold your hands for about 15 minutes, then rinse and apply a nourishing moisturizer. The problem will go away in a few days if you carry out the procedure daily.
• If the wound is inflamed and hurts, a piece of aloe leaf pulp with the skin removed, applied to the wound for 2 hours, will help relieve inflammation.
• Kalanchoe is famous for its wound-healing, anti-inflammatory and bactericidal properties: apply the pulp from the crushed leaf to the wound, cover with a piece of film and secure with an adhesive plaster for several hours or overnight.

When should you immediately contact a doctor?

If severe pain and swelling of the nail phalanx of the finger appears, and the finger itself becomes hot to the touch and swells, you should immediately contact a surgeon. Until suppuration develops, it is possible to get by with physiotherapy, treat with compresses and antibiotic-novocaine blockade. The purulent focus will definitely have to be opened with subsequent treatment.

Developing panaritium is often accompanied by throbbing pain

Children's fingers should be examined every day, especially after the sandbox, and measures should be taken immediately when wounds are detected - treated with an antiseptic and covered with an adhesive plaster or bandaged. At the slightest suspicion of incipient inflammation, contact a pediatrician, because a small child does not know how to control his condition and will not tell about a sore finger in time.

If the finger has become swollen, ulcerated or festered, you should consult a doctor immediately - the child’s immunity is not strong enough to fight infections without medical support, and felon can result in sepsis.

Prevention

The appearance of hangnails can be avoided by undergoing a medical examination if necessary, changing working conditions or reviewing household habits:

• After each contact with water, detergent or other chemicals, wipe your hands dry and lubricate them with nourishing cream;
• for daily use, choose neutral (baby) soap;
• When doing household chores or working in the country, use protective gloves;
• in winter, hands need special attention - before going outside, use fatty nourishing creams or special creams for winter, and apply moisturizers to the skin of the hands no later than 40 minutes before going out into the cold;
• change your diet by adding more fresh vegetables and fruits.

Regular hand care is indispensable as a preventative measure.. Baths with a decoction of medicinal herbs (sage, plantain, linden blossom and chamomile) soften and moisturize the skin. A decoction of flaxseed has a beneficial effect. Compositions with starch and sea salt are useful:

• Dilute a teaspoon of starch in a glass of warm water, add water to a liter volume and hold your hands in the solution for 15 minutes. When finished, immediately rinse and apply nourishing cream.
• Apply a couple of drops of almond essential oil to sea salt, which is then dissolved in half a liter of warm water. The procedure takes 15 minutes. Then your hands are rinsed with warm water and lubricated with nourishing cream.

At least once a week, nourish the skin with masks prepared at home:

• Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and olive oil to the egg yolk. Stir the mixture thoroughly, apply to the nail phalanges and leave for 35-40 minutes. Rinse off with warm water.
• Mashed potatoes prepared with milk perfectly soften the skin. Keep the mask on for 15-20 minutes.
• Mix half a glass of olive oil with the juice of one orange. The composition is applied to the hands and massaged for 5-10 minutes. If the skin is too dry, leave for half an hour, wearing cotton gloves. The mixture is stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
• For excessively dry skin, prepare the following balm: add a tablespoon of flaxseed oil and honey, raw egg yolk to the juice of one lemon. Apply the mask in a thick layer for 1-2 hours, wear cotton gloves. Rinse off the remains with warm water and lubricate the skin with nourishing cream.
• Olive oil is rich in vitamins E and A, which support elasticity and hydration. Keep your fingers in warm oil for 15-18 minutes, massage, blot off excess with a napkin and put on cotton gloves, which to enhance the effect, leave overnight.

The main condition for smooth, elastic and healthy hand skin is constant care. Use a nourishing moisturizing cream daily, make nourishing masks once a week, baths with herbal infusions two or three times, and paraffin baths every two weeks.

Paraffin helps remove dryness, normalize water balance, heal microcracks, improve metabolic processes and blood circulation. The result is noticeable after the first procedure.

Cosmetic paraffin (about 2 kg) is melted in a deep enamel bowl in a water bath. At this time, the skin is treated with a scrub and moisturizer is applied. Hands up to the wrists are immersed in heated paraffin for 5-7 seconds and pulled out for 10 seconds. Do 6-8 cycles until a thick layer is obtained. Put on plastic gloves and mittens on top. After 25 minutes, the paraffin is removed, and the hands are wiped with a warm, damp cloth and a nourishing cream is applied.

Paraffin treatment is especially effective in winter, when the skin suffers from cold wind and frost.

It is important to take preventive measures to prevent hangnails from appearing in children. To do this:

• inspect your baby’s fingers more often and remove any hangnails that appear in a timely manner;
• teach your child to wash their hands only with soap and wipe dry;
• for the sandbox, buy a scoop and show how to use it;
• After a walk, inspect your fingers, treat torn hangnails with iodine and seal them with a bactericidal plaster or bandage them.

Deburring and hand care (video)

Appearing hangnails can be both a consequence of negligence in relation to the hands, and signals of an internal disease. If the appearance of a hangnail is ignored, it can tear the skin, which will lead to inflammation and even suppuration. Proper and regular hand care will make the skin elastic and help avoid such troubles as a hangnail clinging to everything. Warm baths and nourishing masks will make your hands well-groomed, heal your skin and help you forget about hangnails.

What causes hangnails on fingers and how to deal with them.

Perhaps every girl I was faced with the problem of hangnails appearing on my fingers. These are superficial tears in the skin around the nail that can bleed and, without proper care, even turn into an abscess. And any open wound promotes the spread of bacterial and fungal infections. And if you consider hangnails harmless and ignore their frequent occurrence, they can develop into paronychia - a type of infectious inflammation of the skin near the nail plate on the fingers and toes.

What can we say about unaesthetics, because no clothing, even the simplest one, can spoil a woman as much as rough skin on the hands, which feels like sandpaper, bitten uneven nails and hangnails, as well as unwashed greasy hair, an unpleasant odor, and unbrushed teeth.

Why do burrs appear? According to most professionals, the culprit is often a literally disregard for one’s own hands. After all, if you regularly do manicures and take care of the skin of your hands and nails (cuticles), their appearance can be prevented!

The most common cause of hangnails on the fingers is improper care of nails and cuticles. We ourselves contribute to their appearance if we come into contact with water and detergents too often (even the most modern ones) and do not use gloves. Indeed, under the influence of cleaning and washing chemicals, the skin of the hands dries out, becomes rough, the nail folds become rough, crack and burrs appear. It would seem that there is nothing simpler than treating “critical areas” with an antiseptic, then generously lubricating them with a nourishing cream... But, unfortunately, for some reason this does not even occur to most owners.

Office work with papers also dries out the skin of the hands and is not good for nails and cuticles. Hangnails on the hands also appear due to the lack of habit of wiping your hands dry after washing and lubricating them with nourishing cream at least once a day, especially in winter. And it’s not just about the low temperature and the effect of cold wind on our hands. The most destructive thing for the skin of the hands and cuticles is the low humidity in our apartments during the heating season.

The cause of hangnails is, of course, habit of biting nails/cuticles. Since over time, the torn pieces of skin begin to become quite annoying, some people prefer to solve this in the easiest way - simply take and tear off the lagging pieces of skin. Most often this is done with your own fingers (and sometimes with your teeth!). The habit is unpleasant and the consequences are sad. Regular nail extensions will help you get rid of this habit (just don’t be surprised).

Firstly, after the nail extension procedure, the cuticle grows less, the nails become “not tasty” for the “rodent” :). Also, the psychological factor plays an important role: it will be a pity to gnaw on “beauty”, and even for which you had to pay a certain amount of money :). Typically, “rodents” not only have the problem of hangnails, but also the problem of “wavy” nails. Thus, nail extensions will not only eliminate the habit of biting your nails, but will also give an aesthetic appearance to your nails.

You can get rid of the habit of biting your nails in other ways: self-control, special. pharmaceutical drugs, etc., but this article is not about that now... By getting rid of the habit and getting a manicure in a beauty salon (possibly more than once), you will not only tidy up your cuticles, but also improve the overall condition of your nails and hands.

Do not pick, bite or get rid of hangnails using other barbaric methods. This will only make the problem worse.

Incorrectly done manicure can cause the appearance of burrs as well as its complete absence. Cuticles cut too deeply “to the point of redness” and other mechanical damage to the skin caused by inexperience or accidental error. Perhaps the instruments were not sharp enough or were not properly disinfected. In this case, it is necessary to thoroughly wash and disinfect (with alcohol) the tools, and constantly maintain the cutting parts in proper condition. It may be better to try changing the type of manicure or seek the services of an experienced specialist who will perform a professional edged or non-edged (European, hardware) manicure. Men's hands, which are prone to dryness and are not accustomed to regular care, suffer no less from hangnails. For them, most beauty salons offer a service - men's manicure. It usually hides the usual types of manicure with the addition of special stages that take into account the specifics of men's nails.

Drying of the nail plate, cuticle and generally the skin on the hands and body can lead to dehydration. Keep track of how much fluid you consume per day. In this case, only clean drinking water is considered a liquid, since tea and coffee contain caffeine, on the contrary, which helps remove moisture.

If you have not found any reason for the appearance of hangnails, you should think about visiting a doctor (therapist, dermatologist), because hangnails on the hands can be a signal of a lack of vitamins in the body. The cause may be a malfunction of the gastrointestinal tract or dysbacteriosis, which interferes with the absorption of food, causing a lack of necessary substances to nourish the cuticle and nail growth, or the result of a skin disease of the periungual fold. Only a doctor can make a correct diagnosis.

Well, if everything is really fine with you - your tummy doesn’t hurt and you are the most frequent and welcome guest in the manicure salon - but nasty hangnails also ruin your life, try taking vitamins. The most common “skin” vitamin that can relieve dryness is vitamin A, or retinol. Therefore, in order to prevent hangnails, it should definitely be included in your diet. The maximum amount of vitamin A is found in carrots, which are best consumed with sour cream to improve its absorption. Another option is an oil solution of retinol, which is sold in any pharmacy, both in capsules and in pure form, and is quite inexpensive.

But it’s not just retinol that keeps our nails alive and healthy. Just because you know about all the reasons that contribute to the occurrence of hangnails does not mean that you are completely insured against them. The best fight against hangnails is considered to be preventive measures that prevent and eliminate their occurrence. To do this, you need not only to balance your diet, but also to use external means: both folk and special cosmetic preparations.

Each time after completing all household work, be sure to wash your hands with baby soap. When choosing a product for everyday hand washing, opt for baby or liquid soap. This soap does not dry out the skin and is almost always enriched with moisturizing and antibacterial components. After washing your hands, lubricate them with moisturizer. Don't forget to do this every time before you plan to go out, most importantly - no earlier than an hour before going out. Before going to bed, it is also recommended to lubricate your fingers with a nourishing fatty cream, rubbing it into your finger joints and cuticles. If you are an office worker, do not forget to also take the cream to work / in your purse.

We hope you don’t need to be reminded once again that all housework should be done only with gloves? Otherwise, do not be surprised by the appearance and proliferation of hangnails. When choosing gloves, focus on models with an inner layer made of cotton, but not talc, which dries out the skin. True, finding gloves that are not flavored with this component can be a very difficult task. In this case, buy regular rubber gloves, and a pair of cotton gloves, and wear them under “rubber products.” Before this, it is a good idea to lubricate the skin with cream with silicone and glycerin. Let your hands enjoy a nourishing thermal mask while you decorate your home.

There are no special cosmetics for the treatment of hangnails, since all creams intended for the skin of the hands, nails and cuticles are suitable for this. It is recommended to apply the cream to the skin around each nail and rub in with light massage movements until it is completely absorbed. The choice of cream may entirely depend on your preferences, wishes and financial capabilities. It is best to use several types of cream: moisturizing (collagen, lanolin, etc.), nourishing (containing various oils: avocado oil, sweet almond oil, etc., vitamins: A, E, etc., and minerals). There are also cosmetic cuticle oils that can also help fight hangnails.

One of the most affordable, but no less effective, home remedies for preventing hangnails are baths. They are easy to make and are good for the skin of your hands and nails. A bath of heated vegetable oil (preferably olive or flaxseed) will have a softening effect. She can pamper her hands every day. A bath with the addition of baking soda is more of an emergency measure, which is necessary for the appearance of hangnails. Sea salt combined with essential oils (lemon or bergamot) will also help prevent their occurrence. Baths can be alternated, but the main thing is that they are regular.

Even indoor plants can be useful in the fight against hangnails. Thus, the medicinal Kalanchoe flower, which has anti-inflammatory, bactericidal and wound-healing properties, will improve the skin around the nails and heal existing wounds. To make a kind of mask, grind several Kalanchoe leaves, previously washed and dried, into a pulp. Then apply it to your fingertips and wrap each with cling film. The mask can be kept on for several hours or even left overnight. The effect will appear after several times, the skin will become elastic and you won’t even remember about hangnails. The only thing is, do not forget about the frequency of any procedure.

If you haven’t fully developed your hands yet and the skin around your nails still only shows a rough layer of revenge on you, just sand it with a file with a coarse abrasive. You can also use a scrub if you find this a more convenient option. In this case, the scrub should be applied to dry skin around the nail and massaged thoroughly for five minutes, and then rinsed with warm water. Now you can begin the most enjoyable part - applying the nourishing cream and then putting on cotton gloves. Try to spend the whole night in them, and in the morning, rinse your hands with water and apply moisturizer.

The above recommendations are relevant only for those diligent people who nevertheless followed some preventive recommendations, and in the fight against them, hangnails shamefully lost. For the rest we present “young surgeon course” on direct removal of hangnails.

<Для этого вам понадобятся специальные щипчики со срезанными кончиками - не путать с аналогичным инструментом для укорачивания формы ногтей! Маникюрные ножницы в этом случае подходят меньше, так как их концы недостаточно плотно прилегают к коже, и ими не удалить заусенцы у основания ногтя. А пользоваться так называемой «маникюрной вилочкой» или профессиональным аппаратным маникюрным инструментом без должных навыков и вовсе не рекомендуем, так как есть риск сильно повредить ногтевой валик.

The process of boiling tools is too complicated and is only suitable for professionals. In addition, for ideally correct sterilization you will need at least a sterilizer or autoclave. In our case, an ordinary alcohol lotion will help you out, which needs to disinfect all the tools used for manicure. Don't forget that we are dealing with open micro-wounds.

Steam the skin of your hands in a warm bath, where you first add five to ten drops of essential oils of lemon, bergamot or orange to soften the skin around the nails and saturate it with vitamins. In the absence of essential oils, ordinary vegetable or almond oil will do. Soak your hands in the oil solution for at least ten to fifteen minutes, and then dry them with a clean towel.

When removing hangnails, under no circumstances pull the loose skin in different directions, but rather bite it at the very base in the direction of growth of the hangnail. The skin should be steamed but dry. And try not to overdo it, cutting off “living” and not hardened skin. If your hand trembles and blood appears on the surface of the skin, immediately treat the cut area with hydrogen peroxide.

And, of course, from time to time you need to visit a beauty salon for a professional manicure and advice on hand skin care from a specialist, as well as for pleasant treatments for your hands.

Many people are familiar firsthand with such a nuisance as hangnails on the fingers, associated with the problematic condition of the cuticle or nails.

Not only does the aesthetic appearance of the hands deteriorate, but in addition to this, very painful sensations appear. Moreover, in especially advanced cases, even suppuration is possible, sometimes very strong. And even surgical intervention in such cases is not uncommon. Therefore, you should not ignore hangnails, even if there are very few of them, and as long as they do not interfere with your life.

They will not disappear on their own, but sooner or later troubles cannot be avoided.

The main causes

Until you find the cause of the burrs, it will be useless to fight them - like with windmills. Therefore, first of all, look for the original source of the problem. Most often, hangnails occur in the following cases:

• Lack of proper hand care.
• An incorrectly done manicure - perhaps the master, due to his inexperience or carelessness, damaged the skin near the nail. Subsequently, such an unsuccessful manicure can lead to hangnails.
• Using chemical cleaning products - prolonged exposure to chemicals on the skin of your hands will definitely negatively affect its condition, causing dryness and roughness.
• Bad habits - not drying your hands after washing, walking in cold weather without gloves. And the most common habit is nail biting.
• The presence of certain skin diseases.
• The presence of a number of internal diseases.
• Avitaminosis. A lack of vitamins and microelements in the body causes metabolic disorders, and this inevitably entails problems with the skin, sometimes very serious.
• Insufficient water intake. Even slight dehydration is a severe stress for the entire body, including the skin.

And very often dehydration is the first alarm bell indicating a lack of water in the body.

We have collected the best treatment methods:

The most common and effective means of combating burrs are various baths. By the way, all these baths have a pleasant side effect - intensive care for the skin of your hands.

Bath with vegetable oil

It is best to use olive oil - it is rich in vitamins E and A, which have the most beneficial effect on the skin. But if you don’t have olive oil on hand, you can use any other vegetable oil. Heat it over low heat - the temperature should be pleasant for your hands.

Place your hands in the oil and hold for 15–20 minutes. After the procedure, rub the remaining oil on your hands in a circular motion and put on cotton gloves. It is better to do such a bath in the evening, so that you can go to bed wearing gloves - the effect will increase several times.

Chamomile bath

If hangnails become inflamed, the most effective remedy is a chamomile bath. Of course, you will have to tinker with its preparation, but the result is worth it. Pour three tablespoons of chamomile into an enamel saucepan, pour in a glass of any vegetable oil and bring to a boil in a water bath, turn off the heat.

After the oil has cooled to room temperature, place your hands in the bath for about 10 minutes. After the first procedure you will see a significant improvement, and after five procedures there will be no trace of hangnails left.

Soda bath

A soda bath is effective even if the hangnails have already begun to become inflamed - it will bring the skin back to normal in just a week. Preparing such a bath is extremely simple - dissolve two tablespoons of baking soda in a liter of warm water.

The duration of the bath is 15 minutes, it must be done at least once a day. After the bath, rinse your hands with warm running water, dry and apply moisturizing hand cream.

Sea salt bath

This bath is a very pleasant and useful procedure. You will need sea salt and a liter of warm water. You can also add a couple drops of essential almond oil. This bath helps not only to get rid of an existing problem, but also to prevent the recurrence of hangnails.

The following folk recipe for treating hangnails is no less effective. A distinctive feature of aloe leaves is their excellent healing and anti-inflammatory properties. The picked leaves need to be washed, chopped and crushed to a mushy state.

The resulting mixture must be applied to the wound, covered with cling film on top and the compress left for a couple of hours.

It is necessary to repeat the procedure until the burrs completely disappear.

Inflammation of hangnails. What to do?

Sometimes, due to lack of time, people underestimate the seriousness of the situation. It seems to them that this is a small thing and everything will heal on its own. But unfortunately, often everything turns out to be quite the opposite. Measures not taken in time lead to serious problems - first an abscess of the finger, and then even surgical intervention.

In all cases, inflammation and suppuration occur for one reason - an infection has entered the wound. Therefore, the first thing to do is to treat the burrs, especially the ones that break out, as quickly as possible. It is recommended to use brilliant green or iodine as a disinfectant. Before applying them to the affected area, be sure to wash your hands with soap.

If the wound has not yet healed, a simple remedy - hydrogen peroxide - will help. When combined with water and oxygen, it oxidizes and neutralizes pathogenic bacteria.

Then it is advisable to bandage the finger or seal it with a bactericidal plaster to avoid re-infection.

And if you have to work with chemicals, soil, sand, water or food, you should not neglect gloves and adhesive tape.

Deburring Tool

Hangnails are essentially just rough, dry skin. Therefore, it is important to remove them correctly. To do this, steam your hands in warm water - you can add essential oil - for 15–20 minutes. Then the hangnail must be bitten off with special nail clippers.

It is important that the tweezers fit tightly to the skin, otherwise the hangnail will continue to grow. And make sure that the tweezers are sharp enough - under no circumstances should you tear or pull the burrs! Otherwise the situation will only get worse.

Sometimes a little trick comes in very handy - at night, apply a thick layer of moisturizing cream to the hangnail and cover it with plastic wrap. If you leave such a compress overnight, in most cases the hangnails soften and are removed in the morning without a trace.
It happens that the skin on the nail fold is very rough and it is simply impossible to remove the hangnail with tweezers. In this case, you should take a nail file and try to file away the resulting rough area.

After this, be sure to disinfect the treated area.

Prevention of burrs

To never return to this problem, you should regularly and properly care for your hands. Moisturizing and nourishing creams should become your constant companions. In addition, it is necessary, if possible, to reduce the interaction of the skin of the hands with an aggressive environment, to protect from chemicals; make it a rule to use rubber gloves.

Manicures should be done regularly. When resorting to the help of a professional master, it will not be superfluous to make sure that his instruments are sterile. And their quality plays an important role. Manicure tools must be professional, made of medical steel.
During the cold season, the skin on your hands suffers the most. Therefore, to prevent the appearance of hangnails, before going outside - about half an hour - you should lubricate your hands with a rich, nourishing cream. And gloves or mittens will prevent your skin from freezing.

In addition, it is very important to reconsider your diet - it should be nutritious. If necessary, you should take a multivitamin complex - your doctor will tell you which one. And don’t forget about liquid - an adult should drink at least one and a half liters of water during the day.
By applying all these simple tips and acting on time, you can be sure that hangnails will never become a pressing problem. Your hands will always look well-groomed, and your skin will remain healthy for a long time!

The main reason for the appearance of hangnails is dry skin, which occurs with frequent contact with water, household chemicals, paper, as well as wind and frost. An unbalanced diet, or more precisely, a deficiency of fats and vitamins A and E, may also be to blame for the lack of moisture.

Those who like to bite their nails also suffer from hangnails, as this unsightly habit weakens the nail bed and leads to microtrauma to the skin around the nail plate.

A poorly done manicure can also play a role, especially if the cuticle is cut off.

Finally, the state of health in general and the digestive system in particular plays an important role.

If you watch your diet, take care of the skin of your hands and do not have the habit of biting your nails, but hangnails still do not go away, this is a good reason to consult a doctor.

How to prevent hangnails

The best means of prevention is to protect your hands from anything that dries your skin, as well as regular use of moisturizing cosmetics. Therefore, it is advisable to do all housework with rubber gloves and apply cream to your hands as needed, and not just before bed.

Make sure your diet includes foods rich in fats and vitamins: fish, vegetable oils, nuts, vegetables, fruits and herbs.

Get a hygienic manicure regularly, preferably unedged. Instead of cutting the cuticle, rub special oil into it and gently push it with an orange stick to the base of the nail. If you can’t completely avoid trimmed manicures, do them as rarely as possible so that the skin has time to recover.

Not . This not only leads to the formation of hangnails, but also increases the risk of infection of the wound by bacteria living in the oral cavity. And getting bacteria into your mouth from your hands can have very unpleasant consequences.

Smussyolay/flickr.com

Give preference to nail polish remover without acetone. Products with ethyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol and propylene carbonate do not dry the skin as much. It would be nice if the liquid contained glycerin or oil extracts.

Do not overuse quick-drying nail polishes, as they not only quickly harden themselves, but also instantly dry out the skin around the nail.

How to properly remove burrs

If it’s too late to do prevention and unpleasant pieces of dry skin are puffing up on your hands, then there’s nothing left to do but get rid of them. But removing does not mean biting off, tearing off or tearing off. Here's how to do it correctly:

1. Soak your fingers in a bath of warm water and a few drops of vitamin E or olive oil.
2. Trim the hangnail flush with the skin using sharp scissors or nail clippers. Do not pull or pull: this may injure the skin. And try not to cut off too much so that a wound does not form.
3. Lubricate the cut with antibacterial ointment: this will prevent infection and speed up healing.
4. If you had to remove a large hangnail that had become severely torn from the skin, cover the cut with a band-aid.
5. If the patch is of no use, moisten the cut. Vitamin E or moisturizer is suitable for this. Apply the product several times throughout the day, especially after contact with water.

What happens if you get hangnails, and how to treat it

A hangnail that is not treated in time can lead to inflammation of the nail fold, also called paronychia or periungual felon. If the skin around the hangnail is red, swollen, or purulent, this indicates a bacterial or fungal infection.

At the initial stage of inflammation, when the area around the hangnail is red and slightly swollen, warm water baths can help. They need to be done 2-3 times a day.

If after 3-4 days the inflammation does not go away or progresses, you should consult a doctor. You will most likely be prescribed a course of antibiotics, and if it does fester, you may need to drain the infected area of ​​skin.

If you are diagnosed with fungal paronychia, you will be prescribed appropriate antifungal medications.