What to do with brittle & splitting nails?

[eckh20]

Not the most major issue ever but maybe someone has some advice for me: I've been having a flare since October/ November and since January time I've really suffered with my finger nails splitting, something I've never had a problem with before. Is this something that other people have trouble with, either directly due to the lupus or maybe the medication? If so, what helps you to sort them out?

[Twdibwd Volunteer]

Hi eckh20

I have 'delicate nails' too, ridged, thin and splitting. They got worse after the two weddings of my daughters, at which I wore gel nail varnish. When the varnish was removed I had no amount of trouble with my nails and was despairing. The problem was shared with my daughters who also had gel nail varnish on for their weddings. Since then I've kept everything off my nails, kept them short and shaped and use Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream( a tip from my youngest daughter). It worked. My nails will never win a prize for modelling but at least the splitting has stopped. I hope that helps. You have my sympathy over the flares and I do hope everything subsides soon.

[Hidden]

I have this problem. I had some blood tests as I also had quite bad hair loss and in the blood tests it was discovered that I was very zinc deficient. This was a surprise as I eat healthily etc etc so wouldn't have been picked up if it hadn't been for the hair loss. I was put on an extremely potent (prescription only) zinc supplement and noticed my nails grew. Sadly that stopped when the supplement did and even though I now have a less powerful supplement they aren't as long as before. Zinc deficiency might be worth checking out just incase that's the cause. All the other advice from Twdibwd here is also very good.

[eckh20]

Thanks both for your responses! Really interesting point about the gel nails - I actually started having gels after they started splitting to try to keep them a little bit more protected. I asked whether this was the right thing to do and they said that as long as I moisturised regularly (which I'd need to do anyway), then gels would be fine. Maybe next time they're due to come off I won't replace them and see what happens.

Thanks also for the tip about zinc, I happen to have an off-the-shelf zinc supplement at home so maybe I'll try that. I also heard that Biotin is a good supplement to take, anyone else heard that?

At a more basic level I've invested in a pair of cotton gloves and some decent hand cream so that I can give my hands some extra tlc over night, let's hope that helps too!

Thanks again!

[sazzyb in reply to eckh20]

Read this ladies:

fashionista.com/2012/10/the...