What's New for Your Hands and Nails

What's New for Your Hands and Nails
Experts explain the latest advances in hand creams and nail care for youthful hands.

People can't help but notice your hands and fingernails. But what do they see when they do?

Your fingernails and the skin on your hands take quite a beating just getting through the day. They're exposed to water and harsh soaps that can dry your skin. Your hands get chapped or cracked from being out in the weather, from doing yard work, or just puttering around the house.

On top of it all, your fingernails, which are made of keratin, naturally get brittle and ridged with age, and may even turn yellow.

Luckily, researchers have made advances in hand and nail care.

WebMD turned to dermatologists Jeffrey Dover, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, and Heather Woolery-Lloyd, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, to get the latest.
Moisturizing Skin Care: Rx for Youthful, Touchable Hands

The most recent line of anti-aging hand creams contain the same advanced compounds used in today's face creams. And most come in "quick absorbing" formulations so your hands aren't left feeling greasy.

Your body needs retinol, or vitamin A, a major ingredient in over-the-counter hand creams, to keep tissue, including skin, moist. Peptides, in combination with other ingredients such as B vitamins, relax muscles and stimulate collagen production to keep the skin on your hand smooth. Vitamin C and glycolic acid in hand creams help to reverse the signs of aging, including age spots, wrinkling, and loss of elasticity.

Some treatment creams contain alpha- and beta-hydroxy acids. These gently exfoliate the skin so new skin cells can grow. This gives your hands a younger, healthier look.

In-office collagen treatments by dermatologists can reduce wrinkling, which is a lack of elasticity due to the loss of collagen. But such treatments are expensive. While not as effective, there are hand creams now on the market that plump up the skin, helping make hands look more youthful.

Some hand creams and balms are labeled "intensive." These products are formulated for extra dry or mature skin and are meant to be applied at night. Some of them contain lightening agents that gradually fade age spots when used regularly. There are even some hand lotions that are formulated to survive hand washing.

Men's hands have skin that is thicker, hairier, and oilier than women's. The skin may also be more callused and rough. So there are special hand creams that are formulated to account for those differences.

Hand creams formulated for men are typically richer, and many are designed to prevent cracking skin. In addition, men's hand creams are often fragrance-free.
Moisturizing Creams Protect Nails as Well as Skin

Just like with skin, it's important for both men and women to protect the moisture in their nails. Dermatologists recommend rubbing petroleum jelly, vitamin E, or specially formulated cuticle creams into the cuticles at night.

Applying a moisturizing cream or a hand balm to the nails on a daily basis will help keep them moist. And moisturizing products that contain urea, phospholipids, or lactic acid will help prevent cracking.

Circulation and proper nutrition are also important for good nail health. While overzealous buffing is harmful, gentle buffing of the nail will increase circulation to the nail bed. Massaging your fingertips every day will increase circulation to the skin around the nails to keep it healthy and prevent it from cracking and peeling away. Speaking of skin around the nails, it's important to treat a hangnail with an antiseptic to avoid infection.

Eating foods rich in calcium will help keep your nails healthy. And some beauty experts recommend taking supplements of the B vitamin biotin to treat brittle fingernails, though there is little scientific evidence to support the recommendation.
Simple Prevention Steps for Healthy Hands and Nails

All the scientific advances won't help much if you neglect your hands and nails. Dermatologists and nail technicians offer a few key tips to help your hands and nails stay healthy and good-looking.

* The delicate skin of the hands needs to be protected from the sun to minimize the signs of photoaging. Some creams combine advanced sun protection with moisturizing agents and are designed to be non-greasy and quick absorbing.
* If you are prone to developing eczema or if you have dry skin, you may develop cracks or fissures in the crevices between your fingers. It's important to moisturize each day and each night and to ask your dermatologist about creams and hand oils made expressly for this condition.
* If your hands are in water often, wear gloves to help keep the nails from becoming brittle. Your nails can absorb up to a quarter of their weight in water, and that causes them to expand. But when they dry, they contract. Constant expansion and contraction can weaken the nail.
* Your nails also need to be treated gently to keep them from breaking. For example, deeply ridged nails make it difficult to apply nail polish, and some women attempt to remedy the situation by buffing the ridges out. But excessive buffing only weakens the nail. Elle, a celebrity manicurist for Barielle Cosmetics, tells WebMD that the solution is to use ridge filler that temporarily fills the ridges in.
* Avoid products such as polish removers that contain acetone or formaldehyde, which can dry out nails.

Source: Health News