I had to sell my entire gel collection after ignoring itching that turned into painful sores requiring steroid cream from my doctor. Took over a month for my skin to heal.
I wish someone had told me earlier that regular polish works well with good indie brands and quality base and top coats.
Might be worth steering clear of anything with acrylates from here on out. Once that sensitivity develops, it tends to stick.
Getting them professionally removed and having a derm look at it would probably save you a lot of frustration down the line.
Bulb degradation. That’s my first guess honestly, people don’t replace them nearly often enough and they lose intensity way before they actually stop turning on.
One thing I drill into my techs is watching the distance between the lamp and the nail during cure. Shift your hand even a cm, or let your pinky sit lower than the rest of the fingers, and the intensity drops off fast. Combine that with a thicker builder application and you’re basically guaranteed undercure on the outer fingers, which tracks with only two fingertips reacting.
I’d also make a little note in your phone of the exact products used, base, builder, color, top coat, primer, dehydrator, cleanser, everything.
If this turns out to be an acrylate allergy, that info can matter later for dental work or medical adhesives and glues. It might feel dramatic, but photos of bottles and ingredient labels are way easier than trying to remember months from now.
Small thing, but I think you meant the ACD statistic rather than ‘1 in 4 gel girlies’ being some hard rule. The number that actually gets thrown around is closer to 2.4% of the general population showing acrylate sensitivity in patch tests (higher for nail techs, obviously).
Also, are your layers thin enough between cures? Builder in one thick pass is where most home users trip up.
That thicker builder layer can throw off extra heat while it cures, and sometimes that irritates the skin underneath even when nothing shows on the surface.
Happened to me once. Went back to my usual thin coats and it stopped immediately, same products and everything.