I would really appreciate some advice on something that happened with one of my regulars....
.... she had washed her hands, sanitized etc. and I removed her coloured nail varnish. I proceeded to check the condition of her nails with a view to doing an infill. All were fine except the middle finger of her right hand which had a small area of lifting. I was perplexed to see that under the lifted bit it was really dark and also under the tip. I hadn't seen anything like it before and I really couldn't tell whether it was between her nail and the tip or just under her nail. I explained that it would be necessary to soak the tip off because although I was certain it wasn't a fungal thing I didn't know what it was and it was better to be safe than sorry. She was fine about that and offered no clue about what it could be.
Please accept my apologies but the next bit is gross. I was just cutting down the tip before soaking off and she blurted out (WITH NO HINT OF EMBARRASSMENT!) "Oh I know what it is - I've just had my period". :shock: Blood?!
I just said - weakly - "Oh. Well, lets just get that baby in some acetone then shall we??". The dark area deep under the free edge was under her own nail and not the enhancement and still very much there after the soak off. I asked her politely to wash and scrub under her nails (again!) but it still didn't shift completely (how long had it been there?!). In the end I replaced the nail, did the infill and she went off happy and has come back regularly since.
I felt queasy (still do a bit actually) but did I do/say the right thing? I have flashbacks every time I see her name in the appointment book! How do you deal with things like that politely when every fibre of your being is yelling "yeuch!". Am I worrying unnecessarily about something that will probably never happen again?
.... she had washed her hands, sanitized etc. and I removed her coloured nail varnish. I proceeded to check the condition of her nails with a view to doing an infill. All were fine except the middle finger of her right hand which had a small area of lifting. I was perplexed to see that under the lifted bit it was really dark and also under the tip. I hadn't seen anything like it before and I really couldn't tell whether it was between her nail and the tip or just under her nail. I explained that it would be necessary to soak the tip off because although I was certain it wasn't a fungal thing I didn't know what it was and it was better to be safe than sorry. She was fine about that and offered no clue about what it could be.
Please accept my apologies but the next bit is gross. I was just cutting down the tip before soaking off and she blurted out (WITH NO HINT OF EMBARRASSMENT!) "Oh I know what it is - I've just had my period". :shock: Blood?!
I just said - weakly - "Oh. Well, lets just get that baby in some acetone then shall we??". The dark area deep under the free edge was under her own nail and not the enhancement and still very much there after the soak off. I asked her politely to wash and scrub under her nails (again!) but it still didn't shift completely (how long had it been there?!). In the end I replaced the nail, did the infill and she went off happy and has come back regularly since.
I felt queasy (still do a bit actually) but did I do/say the right thing? I have flashbacks every time I see her name in the appointment book! How do you deal with things like that politely when every fibre of your being is yelling "yeuch!". Am I worrying unnecessarily about something that will probably never happen again?