How to remove acrylic when your real nail is ripped?
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Dun, dun, dunn… Every acrylic nail enthusiast’s worst nightmare. A broken nail underneath the acrylic. Even thinking about it makes me cringe into my soul. I believe that if you love getting your nails done long, with acrylic, chances are very good that you’ll experience this dreaded occurrence at least once in your life.
Now let’s talk about the first thing you’re wondering after this happens(apart from “will physically cutting off my finger hurt less than this?”), a.k.a how do I remove the acrylic without it burning the living daylight out of me?
What should you do when your nail bed is ripped?
Remove the idea of using acetone from your mind. This is not a good idea, and even if you have the capability of sitting through the pain while the acrylic soaks, it can damage your nail bed even more.
Stop the bleeding
Stop the blood. This is going to bleed like crazy. I once lifted most of my nail from the nail bed, and believe me, it bleeds like crazy.
You can read here on how to stop bleeding
Disinfect and cover the area
Now you want to disinfect the area. This will burn but it is very important. Now cover it with a bandaid. I need you to listen very, very carefully, do not let the sticky part of the bandaid touch the nail! When you remove the bandaid later, you will pull the nail with it, which will make everything much worse. Something that I did was use a cotton pad as a buffer between my nail and the bandaid.
For the pain, you’ll need to take some ibuprofen and call it a day. Naturally, you have to keep your nail dry so no washing the dishes or using harsh chemicals. Also after taking a shower you should make sure you clean the area properly.
Assess the damage
Once the pain has subsided a bit(I’ll recommend waiting till the next day), you should assess the damage. You might be lucky and only ripped a bit of the skin under the nail. If you’re not so lucky, like I was, you’ll have to remove the nail. This is important because it will get caught on everything and worsen the damage.
Cut off the lifted nail
Taking something like nail clippers won’t work as acrylic can be a bit thicker than clippers can get over. Acrylic can also break your nail clippers. Try taking tip cutters and cutting the nail. Remember to support the nail by holding it at the back while clipping. Because acrylic is very hard it can shatter when being cut and hurt you even more. I would say try thinning out the product with a nail file, but I’m afraid the motion of filing will hurt too much, and you don’t want any foreign material like acrylic dust to get in an open wound.
Take care of your wound
After you’ve cut all of the extra nails make sure to keep it clean and dry. Don’t keep it covered for long periods as this can cause an infection. As the nail grows out you’ll be able to cut more and more of it off.
Remove the remaining acrylic
Once your nail bed has healed you can soak the remaining acrylic off, but make sure your nail is completely healed. After soaking it is important to keep your nail bed moisturized as acetone dries out everything it touches.
Have patience
And finally, I know having one missing nail might look strange, but it is a good idea to try and refrain from getting your nails done until a new nail has formed. It will take time as most nails take about 6 months to grow out fully, but it’s worth the wait. Rushing this process can damage your nail bed even further and might even cause your nail to never grow right again. Just have patience and take care of your nail while it heals.
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