Gel nail polish on toes for C Section?

[Poptartart]

I’m currently on bed rest before being admitted to hospital for a few weeks before my baby is delivered via c section.

I have gel on my toenails and nothing on my fingernails. I won’t be able to go to the salon before my hospital admission.

I’m wondering if having gel polish on my toes will be a problem for my c section surgery?

I had gel on my fingers and toes for my elective c section. Was fine :) good luck x

You know they make the incision in your belly, not your feet, don't you? Why would gel polish be an issue for a CS?

It’s fine, you’ll have to put surgical stockings on anyway so no one will look at your feet. It’s on your fingers that it can be a problem.

it probably won't matter, but sometimes they want to put a pulseox on your toes and then it will. No polish is better, and nobody cares anyway!

When I had an emergency section they removed my toenail varnish, something to do with needing to see the nail beds in case they went blue during the op i.e. cyanotic???!!!

To be fair I was high as a kite at the time … 😂

If you actually want to know the answer it’s because it can interfere with the monitoring machinery.

But it almost certainly not be an issue.

Because if they’ve got to put the monitor thing on for oxygen levels, which go on thumbs / toes then having nail polish on them reduces their accuracy.

Surely they don’t go on the toes though? I’ve had 2 and always they go on the finger. Both times it was the dreaded surgical stockings and they weren’t happy when I whipped them off as soon as the epidural wore off! So how would they put anything on your toe? Am I missing something?

No nail polish - they're not going to be able to remove gel if they need to put a monitor on your toe. Which is unlikely but still.

Embarrassing.

Strong opinion on something you know nothing about. You should run for government.

I've always had polish off my toes for sections and general anaesthetics. They need to see the skin colour.
They rubbed the polish off my toes quickly as I was prepped for my emergency section.

For my EMCS Dh was given nail polish remover to remove it from my toes, at the same time the midwife was shaving the top of my bikini line and I was signing the consent form whilst whoever was talking at a fast rate through the risks so they could get me into theatre asap (baby in distress).

I think if you have gel polish on there is not a lot you can do. I thought it was to see the nail bed colour as it is an indicator of problems rather than pulse ox. I agree with @EVHead it is for "Cyanosis" which is the medical term for when your skin, lips or nails turn blue due to a lack of oxygen in your blood. They have a lot of staff at the bottom end of the bed so they are looking out for that. I had no time to get surgical stockings on. Not all EMCS are casually walked to theatre.

Best not to wear nail polish of any sort.

It'll be fine. For the sats probes, fingers are usually the first choice but sometimes we do use feet. If neither's an option/work well then there are ear probes in theatres. In nearly 20 years I can't think of a single time that the only sign of something going horribly wrong was seen in the toe nails - it's rather old fashioned medicine! (DOI: anaesthetist)

I'd be buying some acetone and soaking it off if it were me just to be on the safe side. Or get some of the paint on remover which works as well.

We can and do use toes. Just depends. Not that it’s relevant but in babies we use their feet.

Had to smile at the pp saying they open up your belly, not your feet. You shouldn´t wear polish or anything else on your nails as one of the first signs of hypoxia is that your nailbeds go grey/blue. I think this is more important than vanity.

Interesting! So the surgical stockings aren’t actually important??? They seemed so cross I removed them.

Yes they are important in helping blood flow and prevent DVTs. If for some reason we can’t use fingers then yes we would use feet or I think in adults they use ears too. I’m not surprised they were cross, they’re put on for a reason.

Paint on remover does not work on gel.

Midwives check sats on your toe post op so that the peg isn't annoying on your finger when trying to feed the baby

Op
It's fine, just if the probe doesn't read properly on your toe, you'll have to wear it on your finger post op

For the anaesthetic it makes no difference as we use ur fingers not toes

(Doi obs anaesthetist)

Evidence for teds (the socks) has been recently updated in last year to say not as good as we thought. Hasn't filtered into practice yet though

The one thing I remember my midwife telling me, quite far ahead of my due date, is to not have any nail polish on at all. God knows what else she told me along the way, but I remember that!

A lot of people here clearly don’t understand gel
polish haha. It needs to be filed off so nail polish remover will do nothing
OP if you can’t get it off they’ll have to work round it. Don’t worry.

It does as I use it on mine - you have to file off the shine but then it comes off.

I'm talking about the magic gel remover from mylee and similar.