Over-Filed Nail: Blistering & Cracking - What To Do?

Question
Hi

I had some silk nails put on last week and decided to remove them. I cut off the tips and tried to pull of the nails with little sucess and plenty of pain. So I decided to follow the advice of nail technician who said I should file them off. I did using my battery operated hard skin file - I over did it and now have a thumb nail which looks as though it has a blister in the middle/ under the nail or that the nail is split - either way it hurts. The other nails are more or less manageable. He thumb nail is still hot and painful ( I filed nails on sat - now tues) Any ideas about what I should do? Thanks

Answer
Hi Mandy,
Ouch, I am sorry!  At some point in learning I believe that every nail tech has probably over-filed their own nails at some point, maybe not to that degree, but I can say I feel your pain (cringe).
Unfortunately, there is not too much that can be done.  It sounds as though the trauma created by overfilling the nail has cause the natural nail to pull off of the nail bed.  treat your nails good from here forward use a cuticle oil and good lotion ( I prefer one by CND called Solar Oil and Solar Silk).  Next use a nail hardening top coat (my recommendation would be Nail Tek Intensive Therapy II it makes the nail bed feel a little protected.  And last, give it time.  Treat your sore nails as wounds right now, the less trauma you do to your nails the more likely they will be to return to a normal state as they grow out.  With continued trauma they can grow out and not attach properly again to the nail bed; thus leaving the lifted area under the natural nail.  So I would recommend the use of gloves, and be gentle when using your hands.  Using some gauze and a bandage might help protect the worst until you can get it to grow out a little.  If it continues to hurt or look red, inflamed and swollen you may want to consider seeing a Doctor.  Be sure to keep your hands clean and protected either way.  I hope that I have given you some useful tips.  Also, it is probably best to leave the removal of artificial nails to an experienced professional.  If the person that you went to recommends that you remove your own nails then I would recommend you find someone else to go to in order to have them removed and well as if you should ever decide to put artificial nails on again.
Good Luck!