Savannah: Should you wear sunscreen when you get a manicure? If you go for gel manicures, the polish is cured by ultraviolet light, similar to what's given off by the sun. And while we know to wear sunscreen outside to protect us from skin cancer, some researchers recommend sunscreen when getting those gel manicures, too.

For example, one case report linked two patients' rare melanomas to their frequent gel manicures. And in a 2023 study, researchers put human cells under a UV nail lamp to see if it really produced enough radiation to cause damage. They found that their particular lamp mutated and damaged DNA, and even killed cells in their petri dishes.

That said, there's a lot of different kinds of these lamps that give off different amounts of UV, so your exposure can vary pretty significantly. And while we can't say for sure if the lights would affect our hands the same way, slapping on some sunscreen is a pretty easy precaution to take.

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