NAIL CHANGES (2 MONTHS AFTER CHEMO)

Options
Sprucegrovegirl1972
Sprucegrovegirl1972 Member Posts: 3
edited November 2017 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment

I've completed Chemo (mid Sep 2017) & Radiation (Nov 2 2017). In the last few days i am noticing and feeling that my 2 thumbnails and pointer fingernails are feeling weird. I wear gel nails always have. When i took a closer look it seems as if the nails are lifting from the nailbed. I just find it odd that these side effects, chemo, come after, way after when treatment is completed, in this case 2 months.

Does anyone else experience this or has experienced this after their treatment (Docetaxel, Cyclophosphamide)?

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • LimnoGal
    LimnoGal Member Posts: 157
    edited November 2017

    Sprucegrovegirl-my nails delaminated during chemo (TC). They didn’t fall off, but they got very thick and peeled a lot. It took about 6 months to a year for the chemo effects to grow out. My nails are pretty much back to normal now, about 17 months PFC

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited November 2017

    Hi Sprucegrovegirl, and welcome to Breastcancer.org!

    You're sure to find some more helpful responses here soon. In the meantime you may want to check out the main Breastcancer.org site's page on Nail Changes for some tips to help manage this common side effect. Also, you may find the Chemotherapy and Your Nails page helpful.

    We hope this helps and we look forward to hearing more from you soon!

    --The Mods


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sprucegrovegirl1972
    Sprucegrovegirl1972 Member Posts: 3
    edited November 2017

    Thanks! Just frustrates me that these side effects come out quite a bit past the actual chemo. Would be more understandable during, not 2 months after.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • NotVeryBrave
    NotVeryBrave Member Posts: 1,287
    edited November 2017

    Yes - it's a surprise when these things show up when you feel like you should be done. You have to remember that the part of the nail that's having the problem now is the part that was forming and growing during treatment. I had a deep ridge across most of my nails that happened with the first round of chemo when my cuticles sort of fell off. It took six months for that part to get to the end where I could cut it off! Even now I have one pinky nail that's weirdly wavy and lifted on the side.


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sjacobs146
    Sjacobs146 Member Posts: 770
    edited November 2017

    Same thing happened to me, and I felt the same way. My nails started liftin about 2 months after completing chemo. You think you're done and moving on, and then the nails. I had my acrylics removed before I started chemo. I suggest having the gels removed, and trimming them short. The shorter they are, the less likely you are to catch them on something and have the, come off. I.never went back to the acrylics, I'm trying to cut down on the chemicals in my body.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sprucegrovegirl1972
    Sprucegrovegirl1972 Member Posts: 3
    edited November 2017

    Thanks for the info. Wish they would have told me about this before so I could have taken off the gel nails. Now, I don't want anyone to touch them and hopefully they grow out and fast! I filed them down on the weekend to where they are almost as short where you start to see the tips of your fingers but I am thinking I would like to have them off. Just feels like another 1 2 punch. Deal with hair loss and side effects, radiation burns - healed up and then BOOM...as if to say "you didn't think you were going to forget about me, right?"

    I swear...I only pray that doing chemo & radiation were the right options...

    Thank you again for your insight.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories