Taking Care of Your Loved One’s Nails

Whether your aging loved one is a man or woman, nail care is an important aspect of their overall care. Fingernail health is important and since nails change as we get older, your aging loved one may need a little extra help to keep his fingernails in the best shape. This is where having a personal care at home provider can help. A personal care at home provider can provide nail care services in a gentle and professional manner.

Personal Care at Home Wyckoff NJ – Taking Care of Your Loved One’s Nails

While nail growth generally slows with age, nails also can become more difficult to maintain as they grow more brittle and thicker at the same time. They can start to curve inward as well and all of these tendencies may make your elderly loved one just ignore his nails, but they need care more than ever.
Let’s look at some ways your loved one should be having his nails and the surrounding areas cared for whether he’s doing it himself, asking you for a bit of help, or using the gentle hands of a personal care at home attendant.

Trimming Nails

Once a week, nails should be trimmed. Thicker nails may do better with a bit of soaking beforehand. Your personal care at home provider can even make this step a bit of a pampering step by having your elderly loved one soak his nails and hands in scented, moisturized water, gently massaging the hands and fingers.

Once the nails have been soaked, they should be trimmed straight across and kept no longer than the tips of the fingers.

Cleaning Nails

To keep bacteria and germs from finding a hiding place, your loved one should scrub under his nails whenever he can using a scrub brush. When one isn’t available, remind him to use his hands to push soap up and under his nails. Keeping his nails short will help keep his nails clean.

Clipping Hangnails

Hangnails are those little pieces of skin around the nails that often get caught on things and pull the skin, causing an open injury that could get infected. If your loved one has any hangnails, they should be soaked and then clipped off, not torn or bitten off.

Drying Nails

Your loved one should take extra care to dry his nails after each hand washing. Nails that are left to air dry can become more brittle and are more likely to harbor bacteria.

Moisturizing Around the Nails

Whenever your loved one washes his hands, he should apply lotion to his hands afterward to moisturize his nails and cuticles. If his nails are being trimmed, his personal care at home provider will have applying lotion to his hands as part of the process, but once a week isn’t enough. He should aim for daily hand and nail moisturizing, especially after hand washing.

Finally, overall one of the best things for good nail health is eating well. Your loved one’s diet should be rich in vitamins B and C as well as calcium to keep his nails at their best.

If you or a senior family member are considering hiring Personal Care at Home Services in Wyckoff NJ, please contact the caring staff at Caring Solutions Home Care LLC. In-home senior care servicing Bergen & Passaic Counties. Call today at (973) 427-3553.