Question about nail care during chemotherapy

Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!  All day long and at night.  I had problems during Taxol -- it is called hand and foot syndrome. Swelling and little cuts around the nails.  Also some neuropathy, though not severe.   I also got white horizontal stripes across my nails.  After every weekly treatment, another stripe.  I am now on a different drug called Xeloda and the hand and foot syndrome it is causing is WAY worse than what Taxol caused for me.  Some of the other side effects that Taxol caused for me were nosebleeds and leg swelling.  I know it sounds horrible, but actually being on Taxol was pretty easy.  Way easier than the Adriamycin and Cytoxin I took prior to Taxol.  Taxol caused no nausea nor hair loss.  It shouldn't be too bad for you.  Good luck.

ktj, I had Taxotere, not Taxol; but they're similar drugs. I was one of the lucky ones. I did not lose a single fingernail or toenail from chemo, and none of them even turned funny colors.

I did develop a thin, white, chalky line across the width of each nail corresponding to each chemo treatment (4 rounds of Taxotere & Cytoxan). The only other thing I noticed was a little bit of "receding" of the nailbeds under a couple of my fingernails.  My remedy was to stop trying to clean so diligently under my fingernails (I wanted them to stay attached and not peel off), and keep my fingernails trimmed really (really) short, so the ends would not catch on anything or collect debris.  I did that for the duration of chemo.

Good hygiene is important, but IMHO don't overdo the cleaning and primping. Some people say they used "tea tree oil" to coat their nails, but I didn't.  Mine didn't get fragile, except for those 4 lines that gradually grew out and got trimmed off after chemo was done. Some people say they painted their nails with black polish to protect them; but I haven't found any scientific, medical, or physiologic reason why that would make any difference. One thing it would do is hide the white lines and cover any dark discoloration that might appear.  Since my nails never turned dark, I didn't worry about hiding anything.

Bottom line:  keep your hands and fingertips clean and well-moisturized, and keep those nails trimmed short. I should mention that I never have used nail polish or "strengthener" -- my nails are tough all by themselves; and I've always kept them fairly short.

otter 

I was on taxotere which I've heard referred to on this board as the evil twin of taxol :>  I didn't have any issues with my nails during chemo, but 6 months after they started crumbling.  Nail strengthener didn't seem to help any...maybe because the damage was already done and I continued with herceptin and tykerb which aren't kind to nails either?  Anyway, I put a ton of super strong clear polish on all my nails and made sure they were kept on the short side.  That seemed to help keep them together a bit more.  And moisturize tons to keep the finger splits to a minimum :>  When I get really bad sores around my nails, I put on some clindamycin gel and a bandaid or sometimes a strong hydrocortisone and that helps with the healing and swelling. 

I would polish my fingernails AND toenails. I polished my fingernails during chemo ('cause I always polish my fingernails!); they were fine but my unpolished toenails got all soft and weird. My cousin went through chemo at the same time. She polished her toenails, they were fine. She didn't polish her fingernails, they were soft and weird. We never talked about it until afterward, but it seems too strange to be a coincidence. Good Luck!

I never had any trouble with my fingernails and I did nothing special except drink plenty of water and use moisterizer. My toenails, on the other hand, were something else. I've had some toenail fungus for years. Chemo made them MUCH worse, and the nails were thickening to the point where I'd grind them down with an electric grinder. Gross, right? BUT, after the chemo was over, months later, the nails started growing out clearer than they'd been in years. One nail has NO evidence of fungus, and a couple others are almost clear.

I had similar problems with my nails while i was undergoing chemo treatment. My nails were discolored, brittle and sore. Sore mouth was yet another side effect of taxol i witnessed. My onc told me to take plenty of water, keep my nails trimmed and clean, to wear gloves in order to minimize damage and prevent infections. I followed all the instructions carefully and also started using evonail hydrating solution regularly. In just about 2weeks of application my nails felt much better. My nails were back to normal state in about a month and started to grow naturally. This product is very effective and i still use it sometimes.You should check the website www.myevolife.com to know more. I have also used its evomucy mouth spray and rinse for my sore mouth. I am equally satisfied with these two products.Thanks to evolife for making such wonderful products!!

Good morning,

How often did you have nosebleeds and were they bad? Did all of this go away when the taxol was finished? I just started mine yesterday. I have it once a week for 12 weeks. 

Nail Report-- Over one month out from chemo--

My nails were turning white from the moons out, during chemo. Then my pinky nails got some dark pink spots in the middle of the nail... Then these areas quickly turned bright white. I'm getting white spots on my ring finger nails and some on my middle fingers... I wonder if it's just discoloration or if the nails are lifting?

I guess I'll find out!

I don't have the white bands, or any striations, or dark/black coloration... Just the diffuse white (like my moons, but spreading outward). then some darker pink areas. Now white spots--mostly on pinky fingers and slightly on adjoining fingers.

Toenails were getting pale/white-ish too, but I haven't seen the darker areas or brighter white areas so far.

I hear nails can keep falling off or being affected by chemo for many months afterwards. I just would like to know what's going on... but I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it goes!

--

I've continued to use nourishing clear coats. My nails feel pretty strong, but are a little sensitive now and then... the tops of my thumbnails and index finger nails want to split in layers a bit--but they did that even before chemo, so I'm guessing that doesn't really count...!

I've still got other lingering effects from chemo ("D" and upset stomach: gas and burning and general aches and cramps. Some neuropathy--muscle weakness and over-all tiredness). But things are very, very slowly improving... I hope my nails improve and don't get worse, though...

Now a month later... Thankfully my nails didn't fall off! They still want to be splitting-- and the pinkies still have a LOT of white at the tips, but the nails in general aren't getting worse that way, and look a lot more normal (a bit more pink and healthy).

I haven't been doing much for them. Carefully cutting the nails down as much as possible made them look a bit more normal. I tried to moisturize them with hand cream a bit. Gave up on the nail-polish moisturizer because I didn't want to get the remover under the nails. They seem to be very, very slowly getting better on their own, really. Whew!

I hope everyone manages their nail problems as well as possible!

my nail tech said that nails are porous and need to have a protective layer of thick polish to block absorbion of chemo drugs. Keeps them from getting white, spongy and fungus growing