Aim: To determine the bacterial flora present on- and under long, artificial or polished native nails of patients who undergo elective surgery due to common hand diseases and if this poses the risk of surgical site infection. Materials and Methods: Forty-six female patients having long, artificial or polished native nails were operated on. In 10 of these patients, a swab was taken from the surface of the nails and from under the nails prior to- and after the operation. It was assessed whether there were infections of the operated site in any of the patients. Results: Before hand preparation cultures were positive in all 10 patients and the most common organisms were coagulase-negative Staphylococci. Postpreparation cultures were positive also in all 10 patients with the same organism being the most common. However, the number of organisms in post-preparation samples was significantly lower, than in pre-preparation. No one case of surgical site infection was noted in 46 patients in the study at 1 month assessment. Conclusions: The bacterial flora present on and under long, artificial or polished native nails is mostly composed of natural skin microbiota. Presence of bacteria on and under nails does not increase the risk of surgical site infection.