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stars_of_crack_and_smears
Jan 3, 2006, 9:34 PM
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Hi everyone-
First post, but been lurking for awhile and know how it works here, so go easy on me!
OK, here's the deal, has anyone ever had a problem with the skin right under the nail delaminating (for lack of a better word)? It is essentially the same feeling as when you cut your nails way too short, but I'm pretty sure after many decades of fingernail clipping, I got a handle on how to do this. It started with my right index finger and right middle finger, but has "spread" to my right ring finger and left index and ring fingers. I can still climb (2-3/week pulling plastic) but it's just becoming a nuisance. Am I chalking up too violently or what?
With this being my first post I should say that this isn't a troll and I did check the search engine, but all I found was info on how short I need to cut my nails to trad 5.14s and how long I should tell my girlfriend to keep her nails so she can climb but still paint them when she wants to be girly, both of which didn't help me (or my girlfriend).
Thanks,
Socas
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aikibujin
Jan 3, 2006, 10:00 PM
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So your nail is separating from the nail bed? Kinda like you're ripping your nails off? I've never had this problem myself, so I can't offer any solution from experience. But one thing you can try is to put some glue in the gap between the tip of your finger nails and the nail bed. You probably have heard of people using super glue to close flappers and other skin wounds... I would recommend the Bandaid brand Liquid Bandage. It has the same active ingredient as super glue, but it's probably more sanitary to use than super glue. Look for the active ingredient octyl-2-cyanoacrylate. Some liquid bandage type products (such as New Skin) does not contain this.
This may or may not help, but it shouldn't hurt to try.
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sbaclimber
Jan 3, 2006, 10:13 PM
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I have the same problem, but no solution (though I had been thinking about the super glue one....).
Thanks for starting the thread. I will be following it for ideas too.
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stars_of_crack_and_smears
Jan 4, 2006, 12:45 AM
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Well, I don't have any of band-aid brand stuff, but I'll try super glue. I'm going climbing tonite, so I'll give an update when I get back.
As a sidenote, I noticed that when I used the search engine, I got about 300 replies that had little or nothing to do with my topic. However, when I scrolled to the bottom of my thread, sure enough there was a similar thread.
Go figure :|
Socas
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sbaclimber
Jan 4, 2006, 12:52 AM
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In reply to: However, when I scrolled to the bottom of my thread, sure enough there was a similar thread.
Curious how your experiment turns out.
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tattooed_climber
Jan 4, 2006, 1:08 AM
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due to my line of current work and a good hand crush injury, i've lost 6 nails over the last 6 months....hummmm, though you have a totally different problem...you can tape it down or use glue...those are temp solutions.......when ever my nails trun into flappers, i cut 'em short and tape 'em or take pliers to them.....go see a doctor but i doubt s/he can do anything for ya...
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lhwang
Jan 4, 2006, 3:08 AM
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It sounds like you have onycholysis. Usually this is due to a fungal infection and clears up with a cream you can get by prescription from your doctor, but it can also be a symptom of a whole assortment of conditions.
Hope that helps.
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michelleh
Jan 4, 2006, 2:42 PM
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After a trekking trip to Mt. Kenya and then Mt. Kilimanjaro I had a similar experience (as did one or two team mates). We chalked it up to sun exposure combined with Doxycycline, an anti-malarial medication with possible sun sensitivity side effects.
Not sure if this has any bearing on your problem, more likely an overuse issue?
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gmreeves
Jan 4, 2006, 3:27 PM
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this has happened to me before and I didn't have a fungal infection that needed clearing up or didn't use any kind of weird ointment for a trip up an obscure peak. it comes and goes and I actually attribute to the chalk getting up under the fingernails and drying out the skin or connective tissue and then it just simply separates under pressure.
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stars_of_crack_and_smears
Jan 4, 2006, 8:12 PM
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In reply to: this has happened to me before and I didn't have a fungal infection that needed clearing up or didn't use any kind of weird ointment for a trip up an obscure peak. it comes and goes and I actually attribute to the chalk getting up under the fingernails and drying out the skin or connective tissue and then it just simply separates under pressure.
Although all the previous reasons are probably valid, I think the chalk explanation along with the weather getting a little dryer and colder up in these parts may be a more likely explanation.
So I tried the super glue method, and it worked it! :P
I used it fairly sparingly across the entire nail/skin interface and it held up pretty good on all but my left index finger. I'd been crimping pretty hard with my left hand, so it didn't surprise me when the glue didn't hold. What did surprise me was that the glue didn't give, the top layer of skin actually ripped. Later I reapplied a thicker layer of super glue and it held with no problems.
Two suggestions with using super glue for nail problems:
1-Don't be shy, really slather it on the entire nail/skin interface, just make sure it doesn't gum up into an uneven goopy wad because after it tries, it's like having a little pebble glued to your crimping surface... not fun. The good news though, is that you can file it down with a fingernail clipper file fairly easily.
2-Wait at least 15 min after applying super glue before chalking up. :lol:
Socas
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sbaclimber
Jan 4, 2006, 8:16 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: this has happened to me before and I didn't have a fungal infection that needed clearing up or didn't use any kind of weird ointment for a trip up an obscure peak. it comes and goes and I actually attribute to the chalk getting up under the fingernails and drying out the skin or connective tissue and then it just simply separates under pressure. Although all the previous reasons are probably valid, I think the chalk explanation along with the weather getting a little dryer and colder up in these parts may be a more likely explanation. So I tried the super glue method, and it worked it! :P I used it fairly sparingly across the entire nail/skin interface and it held up pretty good on all but my left index finger. I'd been crimping pretty hard with my left hand, so it didn't surprise me when the glue didn't hold. What did surprise me was that the glue didn't give, the top layer of skin actually ripped. Later I reapplied a thicker layer of super glue and it held with no problems. Two suggestions with using super glue for nail problems: 1-Don't be shy, really slather it on the entire nail/skin interface, just make sure it doesn't gum up into an uneven goopy wad because after it tries, it's like having a little pebble glued to your crimping surface... not fun. The good news though, is that you can file it down with a fingernail clipper file fairly easily. 2-Wait at least 15 min after applying super glue before chalking up. :lol: Socas |
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aikibujin
Jan 4, 2006, 8:32 PM
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Glad to see that at least one of my posts has been helpful.
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kirsten00
Jan 5, 2006, 3:59 AM
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Great thread, very helpful. Thanks!
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tnmountainman
Jan 5, 2006, 4:17 AM
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I had a fingernail issue back a couple of months ago, Mine had something to do with my left thumb and a 21 oz. framing hammer. :lol: It sure is wierd having to trim the front and back of your nail at the same time. After the majority of it came off, I just taped up my thumb and kept climbing.
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dudemanbu
Jan 5, 2006, 5:21 AM
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maybe you should just give up chalk for a while and see if that helps? It'd probably improve your climbing anyway.
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sbaclimber
Jan 5, 2006, 9:05 AM
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Just did the super-glue thing for some plastic pulling this evening. Worked like a charm!!
Cheers Stars!
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stars_of_crack_and_smears
Jan 9, 2006, 8:36 PM
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In reply to: maybe you should just give up chalk for a while and see if that helps? It'd probably improve your climbing anyway.
I am seriously considering foregoing chalk until my nail beds heal, but then I'd have to start another thread about how I injured my ego by losing two grades b/c of chalk. A 15 page thread would probably ensue b/n the "psychological" versus "physical" advantages of chalk camps. In the end, we'd all agree to disagree and probably get flamed for not doing a thread search for said topic.
In the meantime I'm using a nail cleaner, which is basically a trumped up toothbrush, after every climbing session to scrub the chalk out from under the nail, along with some thick vit E rich hand goop. Ironically, the one positive to come out of this ordeal is the I now have more crimp friction capacity because the leading section of fingernail isn't the only part of each finger to make contact with a given crimp edge. Hell, maybe I should manually delaminate all my nails until they form one continuous smooth ultra-edging contour front index to pinky finger. :shock:
I may be on to something here,
Socas
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daktarin
Feb 17, 2006, 7:47 AM
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Daktarin is a range of anti-fungal products for the effective treatment of athlete's foot and other common fungal skin infections.
http://www.daktarin.co.uk. Here you can find information and advice to help you to perform to your personal best.
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Chema23
Dec 3, 2009, 4:16 AM
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I've been having the same problem for a while now. They only hurt for a couple days after delaminating, and then they're not a problem. It's gone through my index, ring, and one middle finger. My other middle finger just started up today, and it sucks, I'm hoping that once it heals in the "less-laminated" state that they will all be done and I can move on. I noticed that my fingers first starting to do this correlated with me crimping a lot more while practicing (as opposed to grabbing everything open-handed). It feels to me like crimping pushes the nail off my skin, and that maybe dryness makes it worse. Also, I have to keep my fingernails at very specific length with about a .3mm range, just short enough that they don't scrape the wall, too short and they hurt bad enough to not want to grab anything smaller than a big jug.
(This post was edited by Chema23 on Dec 3, 2009, 4:34 AM)
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Trixie
Dec 4, 2009, 11:46 PM
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I do think that the idea that crimping hard is doing this is probably correct. I'm one of those females who, until I started climbing, had very long talons. Said talons meant that my fingertips couldn't be used for anything cos the talons were in the way.
I got exactly the same thing quite often if I had to grip something hard. I couldn't close my hand to hold things in the normal way as my nails prevented me making a fist, so I was always, in effect, crimping. It felt as if my nail had been bent backwards and lifted at the front, even though I knew this hadn't happened.
Occasionally I would break one of these talons so short that the tear would extend into the nail bed and it would bleed. I used superglue to reattach the entire nail (cos nine long and one short looks daft). This always resulted in a complete stop to the pain and bleeding and a much stronger join between the nail and the skin interface and accidents which caused me to howl in agony didn't budge the mended nail and nail bed.
You can purchase superglue specifically for nail repairs, but it's overpriced. To be honest I think bog basic superglue is fine - any bugs which can grow in that stuff deserve to be allowed to infect you 
As an aside, I totally banned my obstetrician from using staples after my Caesarian section and he couldn't be bothered with sutures for closing the skin, so he used superglue. Worked a treat, shame I can't say the same about the rest of his work, but that's another story entirely
Trixie 
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mandryd
Mar 5, 2010, 1:30 AM
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this happens to me basically every time I climb. I will have to try the superglue trick.
I've found that if this happens I can heal it basically overnight with the right care. I fill the separated nail area with some oily lotion, then i take a thin strip of tape and go over the front of the nail putting enough pressure to bring the skin back towards the nail...sometimes this causes some pain. I then take another piece of tape and go around the finger to secure the piece that holds the finger together on.
this has the added benefit of protecting the finger while you do normal every day things.
cheers!
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jim23
Sep 18, 2011, 11:20 PM
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Huh, I will try that overnight approach mandryd- I get this problem only when I climb on GRANITE for some reason- no matter how much I climb at the gym, on sandstone or gneiss or schist- never seem to have this problem. I am guessing it's when grains of the rock get pushed up under my fingernails? it's usually on the middle and ring fingers- the ones that are curled most into the rock when crimping/otherwise grabbing holds.
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damienclimber
Sep 21, 2011, 7:07 AM
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[quote "stars_of_crack_and_smears"]Hi everyone-
First post, but been lurking for awhile and know how it works here, so go easy on me!
OK, here's the deal, has anyone ever had a problem with the skin right under the nail delaminating (for lack of a better word)? It is essentially the same feeling as when you cut your nails way too short, but I'm pretty sure after many decades of fingernail clipping, I got a handle on how to do this. It started with my right index finger and right middle finger, but has "spread" to my right ring finger and left index and ring fingers. I can still climb (2-3/week pulling plastic) but it's just becoming a nuisance. Am I chalking up too violently or what?
With this being my first post I should say that this isn't a troll and I did check the search engine, but all I found was info on how short I need to cut my nails to trad 5.14s and how long I should tell my girlfriend to keep her nails so she can climb but still paint them when she wants to be girly, both of which didn't help me (or my girlfriend).
Thanks,
Socas[/quote]
best to go to a professional nail salon, this is quite serious!
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mounacheese
Oct 14, 2011, 2:07 AM
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One quick question for you: are you trying to clean the chalk out from under your fingernail when you wash your hands after climbing? If so, this could be pushing the chalk further up under your nail and causing it to dry out and detach. I had this problem for a while until I realized that it was due to trying to get the chalk out. Now I just wash my hands normally and try to rinse under the nail with water, which has significantly decreased the occurrence of nail separation.
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teo916
Oct 14, 2011, 5:23 PM
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I had a similar problem, but was due to a nail fungus (toe nails and finger nails) I'm using apple cider vinegar soaks and vicks vapor rub as suggested by a Dr. Seems to be working pretty good. Stinky combo, but my nails look healthier than they have in a while. I do the soak once a day before bed, and then the vapo rub after the soak. Not sure if this is applicable in this situation, but thought that this may help someone else who was reading the thread for a fungus related nail issue. One other thing the Dr. told me was to let the nail grow out, and then cut it straight. This wasn't great to hear because long nails tend to get caught more easily. Anyway, best of luck...
-Teo
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