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Diseases & conditions
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Molluscum contagiosum: How to safely treat it Both the CDC and the FDA warn against treating this common childhood condition on your own with non-prescription treatments. See what they recommend.
Biosimilars: 14 FAQs Find answers to questions patients ask about this newer treatment option, including, “What’s involved in switching from a biologic to a biosimilar?”
Everyday care
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Practice Safe Sun Everyone's at risk for skin cancer. These dermatologists' tips tell you how to protect your skin.
Relieve uncontrollably itchy skin Find out what may be causing the itch and what can bring relief.
Darker Skin Tones
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Fade dark spots Find out why dark spots appear and what can fade them.
Untreatable razor bumps or acne? If you have what feels like razor bumps or acne on the back of your neck or scalp, you may have acne keloidalis nuchae. Find out what can help.
Cosmetic treatments
Featured
Laser hair removal You can expect permanent results in all but one area. Do you know which one?
Scar treatment If you want to diminish a noticeable scar, know these 10 things before having laser treatment.
Botox It can smooth out deep wrinkles and lines, but the results aren’t permanent. Here’s how long botox tends to last.
Public health programs
Featured
Free materials to help raise skin cancer awareness Use these professionally produced online infographics, posters, and videos to help others find and prevent skin cancer.
Dermatologist-approved lesson plans, activities you can use Free to everyone, these materials teach young people about common skin conditions, which can prevent misunderstanding and bullying.
Find a dermatologist
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Find a Dermatologist You can search by location, condition, and procedure to find the dermatologist that’s right for you.
What is a dermatologist? A dermatologist is a medical doctor who specializes in treating the skin, hair, and nails. Dermatologists care for people of all ages.
Hiding damaged nails might worsen problems
Covering up brittle, soft, or damaged nails can worsen existing nail problems.
Artificial nails can lengthen short nails, making your fingers look long and slender. They can also be hard on your nails.
To get acrylic nails (a type of artificial nail) to stick, the surface of your natural nails must be filed until they feel rough. This thins your natural nails, making them weaker. Chemicals in the products used to apply artificial nails can irritate the skin around your nails and elsewhere.
The list of health risks doesn’t end here. To remove artificial nails, you often need to soak in acetone or file them off. If you want to wear artificial nails for more than a few weeks, you’ll need touch-ups every 2 to 3 weeks to fill in the gaps that appear as your nails grow. Frequent touch-ups can seriously damage your natural nails.
In short, artificial nails can leave your nails thin, brittle, and parched.
Still, some people love the look of artificial nails. If you’re one of them, these tips from dermatologists can help you reduce the damage:
Choose soak-off gel nails instead of acrylic nails. While gel nails can cause nail brittleness, peeling, and cracking, they're more flexible than acrylic nails. This means your own nails are less likely to crack.
You’ll want to ask for gel nails that soak off rather than ones that must be filed off.Go to a salon that uses an LED curing light rather than a UV curing light. Gel nails require ultraviolet (UV) light to harden. LED emits lower levels of UV radiation than a UV curing light. An LED light also cures more quickly, which reduces your UV exposure.
Ask your nail technician to skip the cuticle trimming. Cuticles are often trimmed when you get any type of manicure. That’s a problem. Cuticles protect your nails and the surrounding skin from infection. When you trim or cut your cuticles, it’s easier for bacteria and other germs to get inside your body and cause an infection. Nail infections can take a long time to clear.
Cut cuticles also tend to feel rough when they grow back, so a nail technician may continue to trim your cuticles to keep them smooth.Reserve artificial nails for special occasions. If you love the look of artificial nails, getting them only for a special occasion can reduce nail problems. Time without artificial nails gives your nails a chance to repair themselves.
When you’re not wearing artificial nails, a regular or French manicure can leave your nails looking fabulous.
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