It hurts! The hangnails on my hands keep growing back. It's not because of lack of vitamins, but...

Hangnails are very common on fingers, especially in autumn and winter when dryness becomes more obvious and hangnails are more likely to appear.

It is a small piece of skin, but many people cannot "tolerate" it and must tear it off or bite it off. As a result, a long cut is left, which is very painful. So can the barb be torn off? Is the barb really caused by a lack of vitamins in the body? Let's answer your questions today~

How do barbs come about?

In autumn and winter, many people begin to develop hangnails around their nails. The reason is not complicated, mainly related to the damage of the skin barrier function.

In a narrow sense, the skin barrier refers to the physical barrier, the key structure of which is the stratum corneum and the sebum membrane covering the surface of the stratum corneum.

The small area on the fingertips where barbs grow is called the periungual fold, and its main function is to wrap and protect the nail matrix to ensure the healthy growth of the nail plate. In the skin tissue there, there are very few hair follicles and sebaceous glands, so the sebum membrane is already very thin. In the autumn and winter when the temperature drops sharply, the secretion of sebum will further decrease, the sebum membrane may even be missing, and the exposed stratum corneum becomes easily damaged.

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Nowadays, people generally have good hand hygiene habits. Repeated hand washing and cleaning every day not only damages the connection between keratinocytes, but also leads to a large loss of intercellular lipids (including ceramides, cholesterol, free fatty acids, etc.). At this time, the elasticity of the stratum corneum will be significantly reduced, while the fragility will be greatly increased.

When we move our fingers daily, the nail folds will be stretched repeatedly, and with countless local frictions and collisions, the stratum corneum may not be able to hold and crack, eventually forming nail hangnails. The mechanism of occurrence is so simple, just like the cracked lips (lip mucosa) in autumn and winter.

Are hangnails caused by vitamin deficiency?

There is no medical research evidence to prove that hangnails have a direct causal relationship with nutritional deficiencies or certain serious physical diseases. The relationship between hangnails and "vitamin deficiency" is completely fictitious. It is really unnecessary to test vitamin levels just because you have a few peeling spots on your fingers.

If we really want to talk about the connection between these barbs and diseases, there are two aspects that deserve attention:

How to avoid hangnails?

Since it is related to the damaged skin barrier, the key to preventing nail hangnails is to protect the barrier. The most effective way is to apply moisturizing products containing lipid ingredients (including lotions, creams, etc.) to strengthen the barrier structure.

Therefore, hand cream is not an IQ tax. From reducing peeling and hangnails to preventing skin injuries caused by hangnails, hand cream does provide protection. It is recommended to apply it several times a day at irregular intervals due to dry hands. Especially after washing hands or just touching running water, you should reapply as soon as possible to prevent damage to the stratum corneum.

In terms of formula, it is recommended to give priority to products that can replenish intercellular lipids and natural moisturizing factors, such as those containing ceramide, cholesterol, panthenol, urea and other ingredients.

Of course, other forms of lotions and creams can also be used. For example, common body lotions, face creams, neck creams, eye creams, etc. in life, you may as well rub them on the skin around the nails during daily skin care.

In addition, it is also important to minimize damage to the barrier structure. For example, when the hands need to work for a long time or be immersed in water (such as washing clothes or washing dishes), wearing protective (or waterproof) gloves will be very helpful. For bad habits such as sucking fingers and biting nails, it is also recommended to try to find ways to improve them.

What should I do if I have a hangnail? Should I just tear it off?

It is not recommended to tear or remove the existing barbs by hand. The root of the barb is often tightly connected to the skin on the back of the finger. It is not only difficult to tear the barb off by direct tearing, but it often tears the wound.

The ideal treatment method is to use clean, appropriately sized nail clippers to trim the peeled-off part of the epidermis. Trying to shorten the length of the barb will help avoid trauma caused by inadvertent friction or collision.

If a wound is accidentally formed, and there is obvious pain, bleeding, scabs, etc., it means that the damage has broken through the epidermis and at least reached the dermis. At this time, the risk of infection will be significantly increased.

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For example, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection can cause periungual warts; bacterial infection can cause acute paronychia, suppurative dactylitis, etc.; fungal infection can cause onychomycosis (commonly known as "onychomycosis"). All these infectious diseases of nails and fingers are closely related to the damage of periungual skin.

Therefore, for existing wounds, it is recommended to use topical preparations containing antibiotics, such as mupirocin ointment, fusidic acid cream, etc., to help prevent common bacterial infections. If the hands are inevitably exposed to unclean environments and liquids due to lifestyle habits or occupational needs, band-aids, gloves and other equipment should also be used to isolate and protect the wounds.

References

[1] Chinese Medical Doctor Association Dermatologist Branch. Expert consensus on the application guidance of moisturizing and emollient products (2023 edition)[J]. 2023, 56(8): 711-717.

[2] www.uptodate.cn. Overview of nail diseases.

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer｜China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Yang Junye, attending physician of dermatology department

Review | Feng Jun, Deputy Chief Physician, Dermatology Department, General Hospital of Datong Coal Mine Group Co., Ltd.