Acrylic nails and nail polish during surgery?

The reason that some
anesthesiologists ask that you remove nail polish or acrylic nails is to be
able to monitor the oxygen levels in your blood while you are asleep. The
polish or acrylic can block the signal to the machine and not allow it to
function. There are different makes and models of pulse oximetry machines (the
machine that actually measure the oxygen levels), and they have different types
of probes that can go on fingers, toes, or earlobes and it depends on which
type they have available.

Also, the specific
surgery you are having makes a difference – it your surgeon needs to access your
legs for liposuction, the toe probe may not be an option, or if you are getting
a facelift, he ear is out and you may be stuck with a
probe on your finger. It would be best to contact your plastic surgeon’s office
and they can give you a clear answer on this. Usually, there are ways to work
around it so you don’t have to ruin your manicure. 

Great question. The only issue that the nails can sometimes cause is that it makes it harder to reliably measure your oxygen saturation during surgery, which is a critical measurement for safe anesthesia. If your toenails do not have the same acrylic nails, then we can often place a pulse oximeter on one of your toes to get a reliable measurement instead. If that doesn't work, then we can also sometimes use the earlobe as a way to measure the O2 sat. In the rare scenario where that still doesn't work, then we would need to remove one of the acrylic nails to make sure we can safely monitor you during surgery.
-Dr. David Mattos, New York Plastic Surgical Group

During any surgery monitors are placed on fingertips to chech patient's oxygenation. acrylic or dark nails hinder function of oxygen monitors and becomes a significant safety issue during surgery. therefore at least have a few fingertips clear.