If you’ve ever had dry, brittle nails, you know how frustrating it can be! But there is something that can help you—keratin granulation. In this article, we’ll explain what keratin granulation is and how it can help restore your nails to their former strength and shine. Read on to learn more about this unique treatment!
What is keratin granulation?
Hey, guys welcome to the keratin granulation treatment guide. That is a big word, but basically, all it means is you have dry nails. Keratin is the molecule that makes up your nails and when it dries out the molecules are the molecules of keratin just roll up and form a white chalky substance.
So you know nothing to really worry about in the long term, but you can still treat it and make your nails look a lot healthier.
What causes keratin granulation
There are many causes for keratine granulation such as vitamins, injury nail polish, read our content, and we will discuss all of it
Fungus
The fungus can cause a white toenail. There is a type called superficial white onychomycosis. Is it common?
It’s not the most common. What is the most common is nail dehydration. Nail dehydration is essentially the protein on top of your toenail and your fingernail.
As your fingers get drier, they curl up. It creates something called keratin granulation. A keratin granulation that’s almost like white powder that builds up on top of the nail. So, what this is, it’s almost like cottage cheese. If you pour it into alcohol, it curdles up to the surface. It’s a dried-out protein.
The second causes is Injury
Another cause of white toenails is injury. This is called leukonychia. What that is, it’s a white spot. If you hit yourself with a hammer, if you do trauma, it can show up a couple of days later, but the way you know it’s not fungus is every month, your nail grows about 1.5 millimeters. That’s a very small amount, but if you see it growing, you know it’s not dangerous.
The Third Cause of Allergy
Another cause is you could have an allergy. So people that put on toenail polish, or finger polish, or an acrylic nail, if you put these things on you could have an irritation, but that’s not really an allergy.
What’s really going on is moisture builds up underneath this, or for the polish, you use acetone dehydrating removers, and what this does is destroy the top of your nail. It dehydrates it, so that white powder called keratin granulation builds up on the surface.
And the last common thing it could be is a nail deficiency of vitamins, but what can you do? Take a daily multivitamin.
Keratin granulation treatment.
Use Vaseline
So number one, you can put some vaseline over the affected nails, this will uh, this will keep the moisture in, you know, anything works so you can use oils of Vaseline petroleum jelly, any cuticle cream, any type of exfoliating cream, anything will work, just put it on, you know before you go to bed.
Consult with the foot doctor
If you’re worried it’s because of fungus, it’s getting worse. For this, you need to consult a foot doctor. They will surely help you. But what you will do is, before treatment, take a history and physical exam, to see how it happened. Did you remove the nail polish?
If you did, dehydrate it with acetone. Did you bump the toe, did something hit your toe? Do you wash your hands every day? Are you a dishwasher? That could dehydrate your nails and make them white and brittle and crack. Did you have a prior ingrown toenail and injury? All these things could be corrected.
You can take scraping
If you do want to rule out a dangerous condition, like an abnormal growth, something under your toenail, or a fungus. You could take a scraping, and that’s called a biopsy. You could look at this, well; a pathologist looks at it. Some people do look at it in their own office and diagnose it. Is there fungus growing there? Because there are a lot of different funguses.
If you have an allergy to nail polish and acrylic nails, stop using them for a little while. Stop using acetone. In the end, you will get some products that are a little bit safer and great alternatives, but stop using that stuff. It will get better.
If it is nail damage and trauma, let it grow. Nails grow at one millimeter to 1 1/2 millimeters per month. That’s twice as slow as fingernails. Your fingernails grow about three millimeters per month, whereas your toenails are one to 1 1/2 millimeters.
So while your fingernail grows back in like, three to four to six months, your toenails need 12 to 18 months, that’s ridiculous! 12 to 18 months. So if you lose a toenail, it’s gonna take you about a year to grow it back at the minimum. Here are things you can do to prevent this and treat it.
How do you prevent keratin granulation?
Number one: use of gloves:
If you have dry toenails and fingernails; if you’re washing your hands; if you’re a dishwasher; if you’re sweating a lot all day. Number one, wear gloves if you’re a dishwasher.
Number two, wear-wicking moisturizing socks
Something that wicks solution. Get some breathable shoes. So I’m a huge fan of mesh shoes, so shoes that have an open front mesh where you can breathe a little bit.
Number three, grab a nail file:
People that come in with some of these nail injuries, and they’re worried about them; within one minute, you could file that nail down and Dremel it and clean it with some professional equipment, and it’s fine, that’s it! That’s the easy fix!
protect the cuticles
It’s very important to also protect the cuticles. If your cuticles are getting jammed, so this is labor jobs, carpentry jobs, dishwasher jobs, or things like that, make sure the cuticles are well moisturized. So, this is more of a wax. Put wax on your skin, on the nail, and around the skin. Keep that nail moisturized. You could even use vaseline at night. Keep that cuticle healthy because it covers most of your nails, supplies blood flow, and keeps it healthier.
Avoid harsh removers. So, use some alternatives to acetones. So there are anti-fungal polishes and things out there, and they’re getting more common. They’re a little bit more expensive, but they’re getting more common.
You have to get healthy. But you can’t keep smoking; you can’t keep having uncontrolled diabetes. You can’t keep being so out of shape that you’re getting poor blood flow to your feet.
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