[aeadio]

I’m no expert here at all, but I wonder how much this translates to real world risk. It seems like they’re irradiating unprotected cells with a direct blast of UV. How much of that UV actually penetrates the top layers of skin? They’re also subjecting cells to 20+ minutes of continuous exposure, while during a gel manicure typically involves 60-120 seconds of exposure. Obviously we’re not seeing individuals walk out of manicure sessions with necrosis of the fingertips. Their values of 20-70% cell death don’t seem meaningfully representative.

I’d love somebody with an informed opinion to weigh in here. Is this bad science? Bad reporting? Or is there genuine danger here that’s been flying under the radar?

My concern is, we see a lot of sensational science reporting that plays up the risks and dangers of potentially routine things, lowering public trust in science.

[colechristensen]

Much of your protection from UV radiation comes from the outer layers of dead skin cells. These people put living cells in a Petri dish under a much larger than usual dosage of these lights, serious damage should have been expected, that’s what UV does.

The question is, in vivo, do actual fingers in actual real world usage experience outsized DNA damage compared to moderate sun exposure.

You’re not going to get that answer from cultured cells like that.

If you wanted to do a study explicitly to create sensational headlines, this is how you’d do it. Take a similar situation but modify it so a bad outcome is certain then suggest the much different real world case is similar.

Given case reports of strange cancer in fingers further study is interesting, but I wouldn’t go around trying to make fans of fancy nails panic quite yet. (Who knows, some of the solvents and miscellaneous substances may be the culprit more than UV)

[artificialidiot]

They emit UVA which has less energy and body has better defenses for it, but it is not as readily blocked as UVB or UVC, although some would imagine the resin and pigments for this application are designed to absorb UVA more.

I think most risk has to do with manufacturers' lax attitude for safety and consumer expectations and impatience.

Not that it is a particularly healthy thing to radiate oneself with UV but what is life without some color.