Gel Nail Polish Looks Perfect for Weeks — But What Is It Doing to Your Nails and Skin?

I completely understand why women love gel nail polish.

It's glossy, it lasts for weeks, it doesn't chip easily, and it saves you from having to redo your polish every few days.

But there's something worth knowing about the process — especially if you do it regularly, year after year.

What goes on your nails isn't just color. Gel polish is a system of chemical substances that harden when they're exposed to light, and the process involves several risk factors worth knowing about.

What is actually in gel polish?

Unlike regular polish, which dries mainly as its solvents evaporate, gel polish usually contains ingredients from the acrylate and methacrylate family.

These are substances that join together to form a hard polymer network.

When the polish is exposed to a suitable UV or LED lamp, a chemical process begins and the material hardens.

But it's important to understand that the LED lamps used to cure gel polish usually emit UVA radiation, too.

1. Exposure to UVA radiation

UVA is part of the sun's radiation. It can penetrate the skin and contribute to premature aging and cumulative damage.

Gel-polish lamps emit radiation in this range — even when they're marketed as LED lamps.

In laboratory studies, exposure to radiation from these devices has been shown to damage cells and DNA under certain experimental conditions.

But precision matters here: there's still no clear proof that regular use of gel polish lamps causes skin cancer in humans. The actual level of risk depends on things like the lamp's power, how long you're exposed, and how often you use it.

Still, because this is exposure you can reduce, it's worth taking protective measures.

2. Allergy to acrylates

This is one of the more important risks of gel polish.

Certain acrylic ingredients — especially before the material has fully hardened — can cause a contact allergy.

One example is HEMA, an ingredient found in some nail products.

The reaction can show up as itching, redness, swelling, blisters, and peeling of the skin around the nails.

Sometimes a rash also appears elsewhere on the body, like the eyelids and face, after contact with the fingers.

Can an allergy develop even after years?

Yes.

A contact allergy can develop after repeated exposures — even if you went years without any reaction at all.

And one of the problems is that once an allergy to certain acrylate-family substances develops, it can last a long time.

Substances from this family are also used in medicine and dentistry, which is why it's important to tell professionals about a diagnosed allergy.

Not everyone who's allergic to gel polish will be allergic to every acrylic substance — but it's one more reason to take skin reactions seriously.

3. Damage to the nail during removal

We often blame the polish itself when our nails become thin and weak.

But part of the damage happens during prep and removal.

Aggressive filing of the nail plate, forcing the polish off, and repeatedly stripping layers from the nail can cause thinning, splitting, and brittleness.

Prolonged use of solvents like acetone can also dry out the skin around the nails.

4. The danger of incomplete drying

For gel polish to harden properly, you need a lamp and an exposure time matched to the formula.

Not every lamp works with every product.

When the polish doesn't harden properly, ingredients that never fully polymerized can remain — and exposure to them can raise the risk of sensitivity and allergy.

That's one reason to be especially careful with at-home kits that aren't used according to the manufacturer's instructions.

And what about ingredients banned in Europe?

In recent years, Europe has tightened its rules on certain ingredients in nail products.

Take TPO, for example — a substance used in some gel formulas to trigger hardening on exposure to light. It was banned for use in cosmetics in the European Union starting in September 2025, after being classified as having reproductive toxicity.

It's important to understand that the ban is based on a regulatory risk assessment — it doesn't prove that everyone who previously used polish containing TPO was harmed.

Still, it's a reminder that it's worth knowing what's in the products we use regularly.

So should we stop getting gel polish?

That's a personal decision.

But I think it should be an informed one — not just a matter of habit.

If you choose to continue, there are several things you can do to reduce the risks:

• Choose a professional who works with reputable products and follows the manufacturer's instructions.
• Avoid letting uncured gel touch your skin.
• Use a lamp that's matched to the polish system.
• Protect the skin on your hands from UVA radiation with dedicated fingerless gloves, or apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher to the exposed skin before your appointment.
• Don't peel the polish off by force, and don't file your natural nail aggressively.
• Stop using it and see a dermatologist if you notice itching, swelling, a rash, or unusual changes in your nails.

Regular polish isn't entirely risk-free either, but it doesn't need to be hardened under a UV lamp.

And what happens when we do this for years?

This is the question that interests me most.

We tend to think of cosmetic treatments as small, insignificant things.

But when you repeat the same treatment every two or three weeks for years, it's worth looking at the cumulative exposure, too.

Not every repeated exposure causes damage, and not everyone who uses gel polish will develop an allergy or a nail problem.

But to me, when you can reduce a risk without giving up something you love entirely, it's at least worth considering.

My daily recommendation

I love grooming and aesthetics, and I completely understand the desire to look polished.

But I think we sometimes get so used to certain routines that we stop asking what they actually involve.

We check what we eat, which cream we put on our face, and which ingredients are in our serum.

So why not give the same attention to what we put on our nails?

I don't think we need to give up every aesthetic treatment over a possible concern.

I do think we should know the risks, choose good professionals, and remember that even small habits, repeated over years, deserve our attention.

Because to me, grooming was never meant to come at the expense of health — it's meant to go hand in hand with it.

Nurit Rozenblat

With love,
Nurit Rozenblat
OrOrgani

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