Pro Nail Tech Training: MMA: Methyl Methacrylate

In 1954, dentist Fred slack accidentally created acrylic nails when he repaired a broken fingernail with some products he had lying around the office. At that time, Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) was a common monomer used for dental prosthesis and that is what he used for his fingernail. This, of course, led to it being the monomer of choice for nail technicians of the time.

Fast forward to the 1970's. The FDA ( US Food and Drug Administration) was receiving numerous complaints about nail injuries and allergic reactions and decided to issue its first ban on MMA for use in nail products. At that time, manufacturers voluntarily took MMA out of their formulations and the FDA did not pursue further legal tactics. However, no specific federal law was ever enacted prohibiting the use of this chemical in nail formulations which led to new manufacturers deciding to sell it. Since the late 1990's most states (though not all of them) in the USA have banned the substance for use in their state, but of course that doesn't stop unscrupulous salons from obtaining and using it.

In September 1996, in a letter written to the Nail Manufacturers Council , the FDA stated “We continue to believe that liquid methyl methacrylate, when used in cosmetic fingernail preparations, is a poisonous and deleterious substance. Generally speaking, the agency is prepared to consider regulatory action against fingernail products formulated with liquid methyl methacrylate monomer as one of its ingredients.”

Also referred to as "dental acrylic" or "porcelain nails", MMA is cheap - up to 1/3 the price of EMA (Ethyl Methacrylcate - the "good" acrylic monomer) and is often used to keep costs down in shops with low profit margins.

One more note - MMA is only a problem in the acrylic monomers (liquid) NOT the polymers (powder) and NOT with true gels or wraps.

Facts

MMA is not intended for soft tissue, it is used to repair bones and teeth - and dental prosthetics are cured outside the body so therefore never come in contact with the soft tissue. MMA is also used in road markers and plexiglass signs.

Reasons not to use MMA From Doug Schoon:

"Reason 1. My research shows that MMA has terrible adhesion to the natural nail. The only way to make it stick is to severely abrade the nail, which weakens the nail plate tremendously. Any product will stick well if you shred up the nail plate, even MMA.
Reason 2. MMA creates enhancements that are stronger than the natural nail. In other words, too strong! If an MMA enhancement is jammed hard enough the weakened nail plate often breaks and bleeds, instead of the product cracking. That's bad news! When designing a nail enhancement product, my premiere goal is to make the product weaker than the natural nail, to prevent serious nail plate damage. MMA does the opposite.
Reason 3. MMA cannot be easily removed from the nail plate, in fact it's very difficult. MMA is insoluble in all safe solvents, i.e. acetone. Because of this, MMA is usually ripped off the already thin, weak damaged nail. This can lead to severe nail infections and severe nail plate damage. It can even cause permanent injury to the nail bed and plate. Look around at all the damaged MMA nails, now you know why!"

Issues for Nail Techs:

Chronic (long term) health effects can occur at some time after exposure to Methyl Methacrylate and can last for months or years
Repeatedly breathing in the vaports can cause symptoms such as "pins and needles", numbness, weakness, and changes in the ability to remember and concentrate.
Exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, and throat - High exposures can cause you to feel dizzy and lightheaded

Fiction/Myths

From Doug Schoon:
"Unfortunately, most people who talk about MMA don't understand the issues. Most of the misinformation about MMA is being spread by misinformed nail techs and those who have a financial interesting in clouding the issue with lots of bogus, scientific sounding arguments.

Myth 1- "There is nothing wrong with MMA. The "big" companies are jealous and just trying to put us little guys out of business." If that were true, why don't the "big" companies make an MMA product and really put them out of business? I could make a MMA product that be many times better than anything on the market. I don't for two very good reasons, 1). The FDA says don't use MMA monomer and 2) MMA monomer isn't a good nail product ingredient (and I have many years of research, observations and experiences to back up that claim.)
Myth 2- "MMA is just a safe as EMA" and people who are trying to scare you about EMA say "EMA is just a dangerous as MMA". Here's the trick- this isn't even the issue! It's designed to fool you away from the real issue. MMA isn't dangerous to nail technicians health. Neither is EMA. Workers in hundreds of types of industries use both of these monomers and there are reams of studies which support the fact that both monomers are safe to nail technicians (but sadly not for clients). Remember, any chemical CAN be dangerous. Vitamins CAN be dangerous chemicals. Water CAN be a dangerous chemical. Wine CAN be a dangerous mixture of chemical. The question is, are they dangerous when used correctly? The answer is no. MMA is no more "dangerous" than EMA and... EMA has TWICE in seven years been declared safe to use by the highly prestigious CIR expert panel of world renown dermatologist, toxicologists and doctors (and the FDA agreed with the finding). Give me a break, how much more proof does it take? Here is the real issue. MMA is used in bone cements. It's perfectly safe for that use. But, the properties that make it great bone cement, makes it a terrible nail enhancement product which damages the nail plate and bed.
Myth 3- "MMA and EMA cause liver damage, kidney damage..., etc". Hey, what doesn't? Especially if you really overexposure yourself, all sorts of things can happen. You could die from eating too much baby food. Fact: Under the conditions nail tech use these products, they are safe and will not cause any these problems related to long term, mass overexposure. Anyone can come up with a list of all the things a chemical CAN do, even water! Water CAN kill you... if you stick your head in a bucket of water for five minutes (don't try this at home <g>). "

Other Myths/Misinformation

Methyl Methacrylate has not been proven to cause cancer.
MMA does not "eat through the nail bed", though the severe roughing up of the nails that is required for it to stick will cause damage.
Methyl Methacrylate has not been proven to cause lung damage (though overexposure can cause symptoms listed above in the Facts section).
There is no proof it will damage a developing fetus.

Signs of MMA Use

Strong odor that physically affects you. Beauty services involving chemicals often have offensive odors, like perms. However, while the smell may offend you, it should not physically affect you. If you experience any tightness in your throat or chest, tingling in your fingers, lightheadedness, dizziness, or an odd taste in your mouth, it is possible that MMA is being used - this odor doesn’t smell like other acrylic liquids and is often described as a "fruity" odor.
Ammonia-like odor when filing cured product (for fill-ins or repairs)
Enhancements which are extremely hard and very difficult to file even with coarse abrasives.
Enhancements that will not soak off in solvents designed to remove acrylics (or take a very, very long time to soak off and when they do turn gummy rather than flakey like EMA).
Cloudy or milky color when cured.
MMA turns yellow after time, "requiring" the client to get a new full set periodically.
Unlabeled containers – technician will not show or tell the client what brand of product is being used (this one is not "proof" necessarily but should make you question why they won't show you)
It used to be said that if you were paying significantly less than the "normal" price for acrylic nails then you should suspect MMA (becasue MMA costs so much less than EMA), however nowadays there are many techncians using EMA who have priced their services to compete with the discount salon segment, so this "sign" of MMA is no longer necesarily true, though it is not a bad idea to always question how a salon can be significantly cheaper than their competetors.