Nail varnish and general anaesthetic?

[JorisBonson]

Can you really not have nail varnish on when you're having a general?

I have gel polish on my real nails and won't be able to be up and about for a little bit after my op. I'm worried my nails will disintegrate in a gust of wind 😂

It's because the pulse oximeter can't read accurately through nail polish, it's quite an important reading if you're under GA.

Maybe speak with your surgical team and ask if you can have one nail free of polish?

I've always had to remove it. They use the colour of your nailbed as a visual check on your oxygen levels IIRC.

Yep I had an operation recently and was told I had to remove all polish from my fingernails and toenails. It's so they can accurately read your oxygen levels.

Some allow you to have clear polish & some just 1 unpolished nail, but you need to check

Usually if you go in with it on they will remove it with hospital acetone!

Ah thanks all. I'll have a chat at my pre op and see if I can get away with clear. They'd need a lot of acetone and time to get my gel off 😂

It's for the pulse oximeter and also because blue nail beds are an easy to see sign of hypoxia. There are good reasons for it.

Cross post

I don't imagine you mean it to come across this way but fretting about your nails when you're about to have a GA comes across as very shallow. There are good reasons that most hospitals insist on it, and if yours does then you really have to just suck it up.

Are you putting gel on top of gel then if it's impossible to remove? Definitely get it off beforehand.

The hospital staff really don't have the time to deal with this nonsense. Your safety comes first and the anaesthetist needs to be able to do their job by monitoring you effectively otherwise they're putting their career and registration on the line as well as your life. Just get it off and re do it later.

We would allow you to keep it on as long as one finger was free of it. Fortunately in paediatrics gel and acrylics are not to much of an issue yet.

Am an anaesthetist and while it’s probably better to have at least one finger/toe with nothing, I certainly wouldn’t cancel an operation for it. Most places with have ear probes too. Surgeons might insist though if it’s a hand/finger operation you were having.

Thanks everybody! Shallow 😂 MN never fails.

My daughter needed her oxygen levels checked unexpectedly (not procedure) and they stuck it on her toe as she had gel nails

Great, thank you, that answers the gel question! I'll get it taken off and my nails cut down the day before.

Hope your daughter is ok now!