POLITICS

                            

It can happen so quickly: You snag your nail on the car door, you stub your toe, or you absent-mindedly chip away at your nail polish, and suddenly you're left with a torn nail -- in severe cases, you could even separate a nail from your nail bed. Many things can cause painful torn or separated nails, but those nails will heal if you take the proper steps.

To understand how your nail tears, it helps to know what a nail is. Nails -- on fingers or toes -- are composed of a nail bed and a nail plate. The nail bed is the soft area of skin beneath the nail plate, which is the hard surface of the nail. Cells at the bottom of the nail bed make up the nail matrix and produce layers of a protein called keratin -- keratin builds the nail plate and anchors it to the nail bed. When your nail tears or separates, the nail matrix grows the new nail [source: Mayo Clinic].

The ways you can tear your nail plate are endless, but the most common way people tear their nails is by trimming them incorrectly -- they cut their nails at the wrong angle, leaving a tear or hangnail [source:Bruno]. Your nail plate can also separate from your nail bed if it's slammed between two things, such as a door and a doorframe, or if you have a condition that causes it to fall off, such as a fungal infection. Nails may also be more prone to breakage if you have nail psoriasis, if you use chemicals like acetone to remove nail polish or if you take certain medications or are undergoing chemotherapy [source: Van Houten].

Both nail tearing and nail separation can be painful, and they don't heal quickly -- you have to wait for them to grow back. But there are a few simple steps you can take to help the nail grow back and to prevent tearing and separating your nails in the future. Read on to learn what you can do to help heal your torn or separated nail.

     Are acrylic nails bad for my health?

                                   

For years, acrylic, or artificial, nails have been the answer for anyone who has longed for well-manicured hands. They don't chip, peel or crack, and you don't have to wait weeks for your nails to grow to have fabulous fingernails. Aside from time and money necessary to maintain acrylic nails, there can be some downsides, which usually involve nail fungus or an allergic reaction to the polymer-based substances in the product.

For most people, acrylic nails are a safe cosmetic enhancement. While it's unlikely that acrylic nails will harm your health, some people may notice that their real nails get tougher or become discolored [source:Gibson]. If this happens, simply remove the acrylic nails and let your fingernails grow out. However, there are some more serious consequences of having acrylic nails.

Some ingredients in acrylic nails are highly flammable, so they must be kept at a distance from hair straighteners, dryers or curling irons, as well as from heat and flames when cooking [source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration].

Infection is another potential health problem that can develop -- this is especially likely if you bump the nails or if they begin to separate from your natural nail. The moist, dark space between your nail and the acrylic is a perfect breeding ground for fungus and bacteria. You may not immediately notice the signs of infection because your nails are covered, so it's best not to leave acrylic nails in place too long [source: Gibson]. If your immune system is compromised in any way, perhaps due to drug treatments like chemotherapy, an autoimmune disease or a history of fungal infections or poor blood circulation, you're at a higher risk of developing an infection and may want to forgo acrylic nails