C Section The Rules

[19annie86]

I know they tell you not to wear jewellery, makeup or nail polish, but does anyone know can u have your toenails painted, iv had different toenail surgeries in the past and my toenails are not nice, I always keep them painted, is anyone aware if toenails painted is ok for a c section

No you shouldn’t as it can reduce monitoring capabilities. You will be wearing compression socks, so after the op, just pull the socks over the top of your feet or stick another pair on top. Honestly, it’s such a small amount of time it’s not worth it to reduce all risks you possible can to keep you and your baby safe.

The nail varnish thing is so the oxygen probe can pick up an accurate reading. Fingers used preferentially by anaesthetist then ear lobes. Putting an oxygen probe on your toes during a section is basically not going to happen due to drapes etc being in the way and I doubt the cable is long enough. In short it won’t matter what your toes are looking like

Anaesthetist. Nobody will care. Some hospitals are still really strict about removing ALL nail polish before theatre, but most are not that fussed, especially about toes. Modern sats probes are good enough to work through all but the darkest nail polish, and we can turn them sideways on a finger if they're still not picking up.

But also, you don't need to worry about what your feet look like, nobody will care!