Has anyone else been told by their pre-op nurse that they have to remove their acrylic or gel nails off of both of their index fingers or they can't have surgery?

I was told as long as the polish is clear all is good.... they need to get the O2 stat on your finger

You need a clean nailbed for the pulse oximeter during your surgery.

It measures the O2 saturation in your blood.

If you had polish on, we would remove it if you hadn't.

I had a manicure the day before surgery, with clear nail polish and it wasn't a problem. I don't know about acrylic or gel nails.

Ohh and to add to my post.... I have solar gel over my natural nail....so not just a natural nail with clear polish.. hope this helps

Ohh and to add to my post.... I have solar gel over my natural nail....so not just a natural nail with clear polish.. hope this helps

I have gel nails, which are clearer than acrylic & I wear only clear polish, so I am hoping the next person I run into is more linient than the nurse I spoke to today & won't make me rip them off. It will hurt & my natural nails are very thin & sensitive afterwards. I also won't be able to get out to get them fixed...cuz I expect to be in bed a lot. I will take the appropriate tools just in case.

Love,

First let me say, try not to plan to stay in bed a lot. You will feel better quicker if you are up and walking as much as possible. Also, 2 days after my surgery, I felt well enough to go get my hair done so chances are that even if you have to remove nails from 1 or 2 of your fingers, you most likely would feel up to getting them fixed soon after.

Good luck! :biggrin2:

I know getting out of bed after surgery is important. I had a hysterectomy and was told to walk to the corner AT LEAST every day for the first few days and to add to it after that. It gets everything moving and I believe they said it helps to prevent adhesions. I felt a lot better with the moving each day than I did on the few days that I twisted my ankle (crazy luck) and was stuck down. I ached in my belly bad on those days but was good on the days I was walking. I would think that with a laproscope that walking would be fine anyway. A few sticky stitches and some aches inside. I am hoping to be able to get moving after my surgery.

(Found out today that I am looking at July for surgery. :cursing: Yeah for me!!!! :cryin: )

Yeah my doc said no nail polish...I didnt know if that meant no acrylic nail either. I didnt understand why....but glad I know now! I had my acrylic nails removed anyways just in case. I know what you mean about them being sensitive though....ouch!

I had acrylic nails on and had French look polished on them and had no problems in surgery or anytime in the hospital

I had acrylic nails and they took the polish off one of my pointer fingers, it was no big deal.

Some places are a bit more strict than others but I will tell you that have your own nail bare with no polish is your best bet. For one thing they'll be looking at the color of your nail bed and also the machine that measures your oxygen levels(very important) neds to be able to read through your nail. However if worst came to worst, they could use your ear lobe or toe to attach their probe to.

I took my nail polish off my completely natural nails, and mentioned it to the nurse while she was doing my vitals before surgery. I told her that did it since I figured it would need to be done for the PulseOx. She thanked me, but said it wasn't essential. She said the meter could usually read through nail polish.

Yup, you will have to have them off for TLBC. And no staying in bed after :rolleyes2:

Yup, you will have to have them off for TLBC. And no staying in bed after :cool2:

On surgery day, no one said anything about my gel nails (which are very transparent) with clear polish. I guess it wasn't a problem after all. :biggrin2:

Has anyone else been told by their pre-op nurse that they have to remove their acrylic or gel nails off of both of their index fingers or they can't have surgery?

Hi -

I have acrylic nails and actually got a new set put on the day before surgery. I did the pink and white French style acrylics with a clear top coat and I was just fine.

You can still see my nail bed and the doctors and nurses didn't say a word about it. Well, the nurses did compliment me on how nice my nails looked!