Like the rest of us, the elderly need to have healthy nail care to maintain overall health and well-being. They may not need to have all of the latest nail treatments and stylings done to their nails, but both the fingernails and the toenails need to regularly receive proper attention, care, and cleaning. A home care provider who offers personal care at home can step in and help your loved one.
Why Nailcare is Important for Seniors
Proper and regular nailcare should be part of your loved one’s overall health care for these reasons:
On a mental health level, healthy nails boost self-confidence and esteem. With nice-looking nails, your loved one will be comfortable shaking hands with others or holding hands with a loved one. She won’t shy away from activities or engaging with others who might see her hands and nails.
Clean and healthy nails prevent the spread of infections. If your loved one doesn’t have the areas under her nails regularly cleaned, those areas can contain bacteria and fungal infections that may make her sick.
Properly trimmed toenails can help with mobility. Long toenails can make shoes uncomfortable as well as ingrown toenails. If your loved one is in pain while walking due to nails that are not well cared for, she might stop participating in regular exercise like walking.
When hand and foot massage is included during regular nail care, it can help your loved one’s circulation improve, which promotes healthier nail beds and reduces swelling in hands and feet.
When to Consult Your Loved One’s Doctor about Her Nails
Nails can often give clues to other health issues so if you or your loved one notice any of these changes occurring to her nails, set up an appointment with her general practitioner to have them examined.
- Dents in the nails that look like small punctures
- Deep grooves in the nails
- A change in the coloring of her nails. It could be the entire nail or a dark streak running through a nail.
- A change in the nail shape, such as the nails curving in toward itself.
- Nails that become extremely thin or thick.
- Pain around the nailbed or cuticles.
- Nails that fail to grow anymore.
Help is Available if Your Loved One Can’t Care for Her Nails
Your loved one might have physical or cognitive barriers that prevent her from properly caring for her nails. She might not be able to hold the nail care instruments or she might not be able to see her nails well enough to properly examine them. For some seniors with cognitive decline, they may forget to regularly care for and clean their nails.
By providing nail care services through a personal care provider, your loved one can stay in the comfort of her home while her personal care provider visits her. Personal care providers can help with nail care (both fingernails and toenails) as well as care for the skin around the nails by applying lotion, performing light massage, and keeping the area clean.
Healthy nails promote a healthy lifestyle and with the assurance that a provider will assist with this personal care at home need, your loved one will both look good and feel good about her nails.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Personal Care Services in Boynton Beach FL, please contact the caring staff at Star Multi Care today. Call 954-962-0926
Star Multi Care is a Trusted Home Care Agency in Florida including Palm Beach, Miami Dade, and Broward County.
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