Back to January 2003: Managing Treatment Side Effects
Nail problems from chemo?
- Question from Wild Heart: I had to be taken off Taxotere, as the side effects were terrible. I'm now on Xeloda, and my nails are green, back, and blue, and loose. Can you help me with this?
- Answers —Julie Gralow, M.D.: Some chemotherapy agents can cause terrible nail problems. Often, the best recommendation is to keep nails filed down very short. If there's any hint that there might be an infection going on, sometimes the solution is reducing the dose of chemotherapy, or holding off for a while. We have a dermatologist at our institution who helps us deal with this problem, and some of the things he recommends include keeping the nails filed down, keeping them clean, and avoiding infection.
- Marisa Weiss, M.D., Breastcancer.org president and founder: It's important to be careful when caring for your nails. Sometimes over-manipulation of the nail bed with home tools can make things worse. It may be a good idea to ask your doctor or nurse to show you exactly how to trim and file your nails.