How Bad Are UV Manicure Lights For You, Really?

I have a confession to make: I’m a gel manicure addict. It’s a terrible habit that has made my once strong nails extremely brittle. I always tell myself I’m going to switch to natural manicures, but it never happens. I keep going back for gel because, let’s face it, it’s very efficient. It’s extremely quick to dry, lasts much longer than normal polish and never chips. But while my weaker nails are a fair trade-off, I do have my concerns about the UV lamps they use to harden the gel. For a while I was able to turn a blind eye to all the headlines about the lamps giving you cancer.’Apparently everything gives you cancer these days!’ I scoffed to myself, admiring my flawless nails.
           

But a few months ago, I noticed a few new freckles had emerged on my hands. It was suspicious, considering it was the middle of winter and I’d barely seen the sun! I also noticed a very slight burning sensation whenever I slid my hands under the UV lamp. So, are the headlines correct? Am I religiously protecting myself from the sun, only to walk into a skin damage and cancer trap every time I hit the salon? According to dermatology experts: possibly, but there are ways around it.

Remember tanning beds? They’re completely illegal in Australia now, but 10 years ago they were hugely popular. The reason they were outlawed was because they were found to increase customers’ skin cancer risk by almost 60% in just one session! Nail lamps use the same type of UV rays as tanning beds, but in smaller amounts. To put it into perspective, the level of UV radiation emitted from sun beds is up to six times stronger than the midday sun. By comparison, the UV rays from nail lamps are around four times stronger but you’re not using it for as long. A recent study showed that it would take around 12 visits to visits to a salon for DNA skin damage to be detectable. If you’re a monthly gel manicure devotee like me, you could easily reach that in a year.