20-year-old Brittany Guyatt almost needed her finger amputated after she developed an infected black growth.
She said the equipment used by a nail technician when she had acrylic nails fitted was dirty. After a few days, she developed a bruise that looked like a blood blister but it kept on getting ‘bigger and bigger.’
The painful growth became infected and filled with smelly pus. She was told a surgery was needed to remove what was diagnosed as a granuloma, a growth of tissue during inflammation.
Guyatt shared her condition on social media, warning others to make sure the equipment used by their nail technician is properly sterilized. Her post gained over 21,000 reactions, shares and comments from Facebook users.
“You see these things and never think it’ll happen to you. I’ll never have my nails done again – it’s not worth it. I’d rather buy stick-on ones,” she said.
“The doctor said it could have been the tools the salon had used. They could have been dirty.
“I just want other girls to make sure they see the technicians sterilise the equipment. I’d never seen them wipe them before. Make sure you go somewhere you trust.”
She said she went to get their nails done at a local salon they had already visited before. “When the man was shaping the acrylics, I felt him pinch me with the nail filer.
“He was quite rough and when he caught my finger, it started tingling and burning. Nothing came up until a few hours later though.
“I didn’t say anything at the time because they can be a bit rough anyway and they’ve caught my skin a few times in the past.
“At first it looked like a little bruise, but eventually it started getting bigger and going red. It was a pinch at first, then it started to become a lump a bit like a blood blister. I didn’t think much of it and presumed it was a little wart that might fall off.
“Then it went black and dried up. It could have been anything – even cancer.”
Guyatt went to a walk-in center and was told she had a granuloma. “I went to the walk-in centre as it had started to smell and fill with pus.
“They gave me some steroid cream for it, which meant I had to stop breastfeeding my baby, and it didn’t get any better.
“I was told it would only continue to grow because there are blood vessels in it, so the only way to fix it was to scrape and burn it off.
“I had blood tests taken and X-rays to check it hadn’t attached to the bone, then on Wednesday I went in for the procedure.
“They were worried about how low it would go down into my finger. They had a look, took a biopsy and cut it out to remove it. It was very painful but now it’s off.”
Guyatt hopes her story will encourage people to be more cautious when choosing a nail technician.
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