Testimonials
At My Fingertips — a poem by Hasna De Four, cancer survivor and Polybalm user
Hasna’s poem captures something that clinical language rarely can: the quiet devastation of nail damage after cancer treatment, and the profound relief of feeling heard. Written from lived experience, it speaks for the many patients who suffer in silence. We are honoured to share it.
I cried over my nails, imagine that.
After cancer, after chemotherapy, after 20 years of treatment.
It wasn’t the diagnosis that broke me.
It was my hands.
Hands that once plaited my daughter’s hair.
Hands that comforted.
Hands that carried my life.
Then they hurt.
Every touch felt like fire.
People looked at my nails and saw something cosmetic.
I looked at them and saw 20 years,
20 years written quietly off my fingers.
I remember sitting in my oncology appointment, crying.
Thinking: why am I crying over my nails?
But I wasn’t.
I was crying for every little thing cancer had taken without asking.
Then someone spoke about nail toxicity.
Not in vanity.
Not as something trivial.
But as something that mattered.
For the first time, I felt seen.
Today, I can place my hands in warm washing-up water.
It sounds ordinary, until you’ve spent years unable to do it.
Sometimes healing doesn’t arrive with a big fanfare.
Sometimes it begins at your fingertips.
Because surviving matters.
But so does living.
And quality of life matters too.
My nails are important.
Thank you.
When I received it in early February, i began painting the balm onto my nails twice a day and massaging it into the nail bed. It’s quick and painless and it smells really good too!
I am so happy to say my nails are getting close to usable again! I had been led to believe without treatment it could take a year or more for nails to grow back. So this is pretty amazing!
Laura Edain
I used this religiously during 16 weeks of chemo. My nails NEVER suffered. Just got some for a family member who is going through chemo. Your delivery was soooo fast.
Thank you.
Shelly, Orange County, CA
I received EC-taxotere and herceptin for my breast cancer. Fortunately my daughter’s friend has heard of Polybalm and bought a few tubes for me. None of the doctors or nurses had even mentioned it despite the study proving its effectiveness. I later found out I was the only patient on the chemo unit with perfect nails!
Thank you
Val (Glastonbury)
I wanted to contact you to advise that very sadly, after a 7 year battle against prostate cancer which spread to his bladder and bones, my beloved husband (Chris) very sadly died in mid-November.
Chris had been using Polybalm for several months prior as his nails were so painful, dis-coloured and getting disfigured, and at their worst, it was if they were rotting which was very distressing for Chris as his nails omitted a very strong and extremely unpleasant odour.
Polybalm definitely eased the pain and made a huge difference to the quality of his nails and restored healthy nail beds and normal colouration.
I am happy to write a testimonial do so in the hope that it will help others who end up with similar side-affects after chemotherapy.
I would like to thank you so much for this pioneering treatment which although expensive, was worth every penny just to see Chris’s symptoms ease up and make his last few months much more bearable.
LK
“I was lucky enough to be able to use this balm over the last 2 years – I don’t have cancer but my nails were always weak in brittle. It has transformed them – I was so pleased it is now official available – my life would be much less fulfilled without it”
DH (London)
” I have a friend with advanced cancer struggling with the side effects of breast cancer chemotherapy, including dreadful nails. I was so pleased I could send her some Polybalm – her nails are getting better now – it’s so nice to know I have have helped in some way”
RL (Cambridge)
I have had a gamy big toe nail for over 10 years – Thanks for the tip to use Polybalm after 4 months of daily of use my nail is virtually back to normal – quite amazing – I can wear flip flops again without feeling self conscious!
DT (Murcia Spain)
I was recommended PolyBalm by the excellent Penny Brohn Cancer charity in Bristol, prior to starting neoajuvant cancer for breast cancer. Being a keen gardener who has tried every product in the book to keep my naturally very dry hands and rather brittle nails supple, I was understandably concerned about the additional potential damage to my nails from the chemo. I started using PolyBalm just before chemo commenced and with regular use – mostly twice a day for hands, admittedly less often with feet – my nails have remained more or less normal. Have just had cycle 5 of a 7 cycle treatment, FEC finished, now on PTH. I’ve had a LOT of side effects, including a hospital admission for neutropenic sepsis and another for a raised temp but no sepsis. As for the nails, however, there has been a bit of fraying of the skin over the nail bed with ongoing soreness, and the nails are noticeably more brittle, but so far no discolouration or damage. The oncology docs and nursing staff, none of whom were aware of Polybalm, are suitably impressed. I will add that I glove for everything these days: washing up, housework, etc, and triple glove for DIY and gardening using nitrile inner gloves – one set to keep the cream on, the others for protection. I only wash my hands in cold or very cool water (a window cleaner actually recommended it some time ago), never hot. Am also using Udderly Cream, also recommended, for the new and additional problem of dry, sore palms.