Stop it! Don't pull out the barbs on your hands. A 10-month-old baby was sent to the PICU for emergency treatment after being "pulled out of the barb"...

There is a kind of pain called "tearing off the thorn"

Many friends have had hangnails around their nails.

Some friends can't help but want to tear it off when they see the barbs.

The result may be "bleeding" and "tears"

Recently, a 10-month-old baby in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, grew a hangnail on his index finger. When his family saw it, they pulled it out. Unexpectedly, a small abscess appeared at the location where the hangnail was pulled out the next day. The baby then developed a high fever and was rushed to the hospital's pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for emergency treatment.

Many netizens said that they had similar experiences. One netizen said: "I bit a hangnail and my little finger has been swollen for two days." So how "deep" is the damage caused by tearing off a hangnail by hand?
Today we will study together: Why can't you "tear off" the barbs? Is the growth of "barbs" on the hands due to vitamin deficiency? How to remove "barbs" painlessly?

01

Barb

What we call "hangnails" are called "reverse peeling" in medical terms.

It is caused by the separation of the cuticle on the sides and bottom of the fingernails due to excessive dryness, and the small pieces of epidermis that are cracked and curled up are shaped like thorns and will cause varying degrees of pain when touched.

Hangnails are a relatively common sign of unhealthy skin or epidermis . Hangnails grow around nails because the skin around the nails is "slightly different" from the rest of the skin on the hands.

The area covering the proximal 1/4 of the nail plate is called the proximal nail fold . This part of the skin lacks hair follicles, wrinkles, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands, and therefore cannot secrete oil and sweat. The skin is thin and is a "common entry point" for inflammation, chemical stimulation, and allergic reactions.

Without the moisturizing and protection of oil, repeated contact with soap and detergent, or physical friction for some reason will cause the cuticle skin around the nails to become too dry and " separate " to a certain extent, leading to the phenomenon of hangnails.

Yang Shuxia, chief physician of the Department of Dermatology at Peking University First Hospital, said in an interview with People's Daily Online: "If you tear off the barbs with your hands, it will easily cause skin damage ."

When the wound comes into contact with water, it is easy to cause infection, which may cause redness, swelling and pain at the mildest level, or paronychia, causing subcutaneous abscess or subungual abscess at the worst level.

If the bacteria enter the bones, it may cause osteomyelitis; if the bacteria spread throughout the body through the blood circulation, it may cause sepsis to a certain extent, which may lead to the risk of amputation or even life - threatening.

Vitamin deficiency?

Whenever hangnails appear on fingers, the elders always say that it is because of insufficient vegetable intake and lack of vitamins . Is this really the case? In fact, " hangnails appear because of lack of vitamins " is a misunderstanding .

An article published in Life Times mentioned that although the lack of certain vitamins can indeed cause skin problems to a certain extent, if there is no abnormality in other parts of the body and only the barbs grow around the nails, it is basically unrelated to vitamin deficiency. Do not blindly supplement vitamins in large quantities . The real reason for the barbs is: it may be due to too dry skin .

The skin around the nails has no sweat glands or sebaceous glands, that is, it does not secrete oil. After the weather turns dry in autumn, the skin around the nails is prone to dehydration, and the number of hangnails will increase to a certain extent.

In addition, some lifestyle habits can aggravate the dryness around the nails to a certain extent:

1. Frequent contact with irritating items

Alkaline substances such as soap and detergent used in washing dishes and clothes will destroy the sebum film to a certain extent, and the oil on the fingers will be "taken away" in the process. Therefore, it is best to wear gloves when doing housework .

If there are some force majeure factors that require contact with water and detergent, it is recommended that you apply some moisturizing hand cream before contact.

2. Like biting nails and chewing fingers

If the skin is irritated or damaged for a long time, it may develop hangnails to a certain extent.

3. Hands are often rubbed

Playing ball or moving things frequently will cause the skin on your hands to be constantly rubbed , which will aggravate the peeling and hangnails to a certain extent.

03

How to remove "hangnails" painlessly

The barbs are connected to the muscles. When you tear them off with your hands or other tools, you may accidentally involve a large area of ​​surrounding skin, causing bleeding .

Whether tearing along or against the direction of the barb , it is not a good method. When barbs appear, it is recommended that you try the following method to deal with them:

First, soak the finger with the hangnail in warm water . After the surrounding skin becomes soft, use nail clippers to cut it off from the root.

Second, if there is obvious redness and swelling around the barb, you can apply some iodine to prevent infection .

Third, after cutting the hangnails, it is recommended that friends can apply some hand cream according to their own situation, or use nourishing oil containing vitamin E to massage the area around the nails and knuckles to minimize the formation of hangnails and soften the rough skin .

Fourth, if the barb is severely infected and there is obvious redness, swelling or severe pain when touched, it is recommended to go to the hospital as soon as possible.

Ask your doctor to confirm whether a purulent infection has occurred and whether oral medication or further cleaning of the wound is required.

The easiest way to prevent hangnails is to moisturize your hands. You should pay attention to the care of your hand skin on a daily basis. It is recommended to do the following:

1. Reduce external stimuli as much as possible

Try to avoid applying alcohol or alcohol-based hand disinfectant products directly to your hands, because alcohol has strong water absorption capacity and will cause serious loss of moisture from the skin of your hands to a certain extent.

When doing housework and using some detergents or touching some chemicals , try to wear gloves before touching them to avoid direct contact.

2. Take good care of your hand skin

When your hands are dry, it is recommended that you increase the amount and frequency of hand cream according to your own situation. You can also use nail polish to apply around the nails to increase moisture according to your personal preferences and specific circumstances.

When choosing hand cream, you can appropriately choose products with rich oil content, thicker paste and higher moisturizing degree.

You can also choose some ingredients that contain ceramides for repairing the skin , urea for softening the hardness of the cuticle , vitamin E, etc., which will help increase the nourishment and protection of the hands .