OMG, a nail infection. Help!

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What nail infections/disorders have you encountered on the job?

  • pseudomonas (bacterial nail infection)

    Votes: 14 21.5%
  • onychomycosis (nail fungus)

    Votes: 15 23.1%
  • onycholysis (nail plate separation from nail bed)

    Votes: 31 47.7%
  • paronychia (infection of the nail fold)

    Votes: 11 16.9%
  • brittle and/or ridged nails

    Votes: 51 78.5%

  • Total voters
    65

bluesmith5

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Nov 13, 2013
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Location
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
I woke up this morning to emails from a regular acrylic client asking for help, she sent me pics of her nail saying that the acrylic nail popped off and she shows me what she found underneath (yuck). Plus, it's sore. Obviously I sent her an email as soon as possible telling her that, legally, i cannot diagnose her issue. It is a nail infection and she MUST see a doctor to get a diagnosis and treatment. Of course she has cancelled her appointments and now I'm worried about her. Her well-being of course.

I've already been looking up information and wanting to know what she has. I think it's bacterial. Why? Because I remember her mentioning 2 fills ago that she glued down her nails with superglue (omg) when the acrylic lifted from her nail plate. I didn't admonish her like I should have. I always make sure to file off all lifting acrylic and sanitize, dehydrate, prime, etc. then put on new acrylic. Always use single use disposable files & buffers & always clean, sanitize & disinfect my implements. But I think it must have been too late, she got bacteria in there somehow and now she's got this issue :-( I saw discoloration during her last fill but she said she thought it was food. Since I never saw a bacterial infection before now I'm thinking that was full on infected nail and now her nail looks so bad!

What in the world do I do or say to her? (already told her to see a doctor as soon as possible to get treatment and avoid losing the nail) I hope she doesn't think it's my fault... I have never ever had anyone come to me with a nail infection. Usually new clients show up with fungal toes and I turn them away and tell them to see a doctor. I've never had anyone ever come to me with a nail infection on their fingers. And never a regular client that had good nails to start and been coming to me for weeks only to then get an infection after i put on their set. OMG! I'm freaking out, here... help! How do I handle this whole situation... besides calming down, which I am trying to do... thank you! :Scared:
 

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First things first... BREATHE!

Second, you said she had superglued a nail back on? That's bad bad bad. The infection may not have been caused by something You did. If there was lifting going on that she was ignoring and not getting it fixed, using super glue, etc, it is very possible that your client herself caused this damage. If she glued her nail back on she could have gotten moisture trapped under the nail. Moisture and bacteria.. Big no no. We know that lifting needs to be tended to due to the trapping in of moisture so this doesn't happen. My assumption: You did what's right. You sent her to a doctor. You aren't a doctor so you can't diagnose. Your not trained for diagnosing. Maybe give her a shout in a few days and see if she has gone to the doctor yet? Just follow up with them and I'm sure they will respect you for the follow up instead of being mad for "giving her an infection" (which I do not believe you did).

Hope this helps some.
 
First things first... BREATHE!

Second, you said she had superglued a nail back on? That's bad bad bad. The infection may not have been caused by something You did. If there was lifting going on that she was ignoring and not getting it fixed, using super glue, etc, it is very possible that your client herself caused this damage. If she glued her nail back on she could have gotten moisture trapped under the nail. Moisture and bacteria.. Big no no. We know that lifting needs to be tended to due to the trapping in of moisture so this doesn't happen. My assumption: You did what's right. You sent her to a doctor. You aren't a doctor so you can't diagnose. Your not trained for diagnosing. Maybe give her a shout in a few days and see if she has gone to the doctor yet? Just follow up with them and I'm sure they will respect you for the follow up instead of being mad for "giving her an infection" (which I do not believe you did).

Hope this helps some.


Good advice. If she's used super glue then it;'s prob her fault, don't worry too much (easier said than done xxx :hug: )
 
First things first... BREATHE!

Second, you said she had superglued a nail back on? That's bad bad bad. The infection may not have been caused by something You did. If there was lifting going on that she was ignoring and not getting it fixed, using super glue, etc, it is very possible that your client herself caused this damage. If she glued her nail back on she could have gotten moisture trapped under the nail. Moisture and bacteria.. Big no no. We know that lifting needs to be tended to due to the trapping in of moisture so this doesn't happen. My assumption: You did what's right. You sent her to a doctor. You aren't a doctor so you can't diagnose. Your not trained for diagnosing. Maybe give her a shout in a few days and see if she has gone to the doctor yet? Just follow up with them and I'm sure they will respect you for the follow up instead of being mad for "giving her an infection" (which I do not believe you did).

Hope this helps some.

^^^this

Make sure you keep the email saying what she's done to cover yourself
 
I've already been looking up information and wanting to know what she has. I think it's bacterial. Why? Because I remember her mentioning 2 fills ago that she glued down her nails with superglue (omg) when the acrylic lifted from her nail plate. I didn't admonish her like I should have. I always make sure to file off all lifting acrylic and sanitize, dehydrate, prime, etc. then put on new acrylic. Always use single use disposable files & buffers & always clean, sanitize & disinfect my implements. But I think it must have been too late, she got bacteria in there somehow and now she's got this issue :-( I saw discoloration during her last fill but she said she thought it was food. Since I never saw a bacterial infection before now I'm thinking that was full on infected nail and now her nail looks so bad!

Hi hunni,
Don't panic it'll be fine, ... You did the right thing sending her to docs ...
But Just wondering - when she came 2 Infills ago and told you that she'd used superglue did you remove that nail extension completely ? ... And then reapply or did you just remove lifting and infill .... ??
It's probably not something you have passed on to her, ... but as you saw it last time and she passed it off as food it's just been getting worse over the 2 apts as the trapped water / moisture was prob still there.

Just a bit of advice for you if in any doubt when you see any discolouration when in filling i always remove completely, cleanse the nail plate and then i reapply ...
That way you can make sure that it's not a bacterial infection, it can happen when clients get lifting...,

Most of all don't worry it will be fine ... <3





Sent from my iPhone using SalonGeek app
 
I had paronychia earlier this year, was a nightmare to get rid of!
 
I've already been looking up information and wanting to know what she has. I think it's bacterial. Why? Because I remember her mentioning 2 fills ago that she glued down her nails with superglue (omg) when the acrylic lifted from her nail plate. I didn't admonish her like I should have. I always make sure to file off all lifting acrylic and sanitize, dehydrate, prime, etc. then put on new acrylic. Always use single use disposable files & buffers & always clean, sanitize & disinfect my implements. But I think it must have been too late, she got bacteria in there somehow and now she's got this issue :-( I saw discoloration during her last fill but she said she thought it was food. Since I never saw a bacterial infection before now I'm thinking that was full on infected nail and now her nail looks so bad!

Hi hunni,
Don't panic it'll be fine, ... You did the right thing sending her to docs ...
But Just wondering - when she came 2 Infills ago and told you that she'd used superglue did you remove that nail extension completely ? ... And then reapply or did you just remove lifting and infill .... ??
It's probably not something you have passed on to her, ... but as you saw it last time and she passed it off as food it's just been getting worse over the 2 apts as the trapped water / moisture was prob still there.

Just a bit of advice for you if in any doubt when you see any discolouration when in filling i always remove completely, cleanse the nail plate and then i reapply ...
That way you can make sure that it's not a bacterial infection, it can happen when clients get lifting...,

Most of all don't worry it will be fine ... <3





Sent from my iPhone using SalonGeek app

...All I did was remove lifting and fill. I thank you for the advice. I feel so bad cuz I didn't know to remove all acrylic and redo the nail, esp when at the next appt she had a stain. Never had to deal with this before... so now I know. Thank you so much for the replies, encouragement and help. I really appreciate it! :o:o

Sent from my SPH-M930BST using SalonGeek mobile app
 
Have a read over this Article which will tell you what you need to know about bacterial infections and how to deal with them.

http://www.salongeek.com/health-safety-unatural/2641-moldy-oldy-fun-guys.html

It wil no doubt have been your clients error in gluing down lifting in the first place, however, once she had told you she had done that you should have soaked off the whole nail and redone at her maintenance appointment. Adhesive would not have bonded the enhancement properly to the nail the way your product does and adhesive breaks down faster, therefore it was always going to leave the potential for a bacterial infection to occur, not to mention the client would not have sanitised the area before applying her adhesive!

Therefore you as a tech have compounded the problem, and once you do actually see discolouration under a nail, you most definitely require to soak off the product.
Not doing so has allowed this infection to get to this stage.

Removing inhibits the growth of the infection, and allows you to cleanse the nail to remove the bacteria. You can then safely reapply an enhancement, although the stain will require to grow out.

Read the Article it explains it so much better :green:

Hopefully there won't be a next time, but if there is you will be fully armed with knowledge to deal with it.
 
Perfect answer from Izzidoll as always.

Just to make another thing clear ... Onycholysis is not a nail infection. It is a condition and simply a term for nail plate separation and can be caused by many things such as trauma or disease.
 
A useful post - thanks.
 
Perfect answer from Izzidoll as always.

Just to make another thing clear ... Onycholysis is not a nail infection. It is a condition and simply a term for nail plate separation and can be caused by many things such as trauma or disease.


Yes, it is listed in my poll which asked about diseases/disorders. Onycholysis comes up under nail disorders in my nail tech textbook. Thank you for your posts.
 
Hi Everyone,

I am new to this site, and one of the 1st things that came up to comment to is fungal nails, or onychomycosis to the real nail geeks. OM as I call it is a difficult one to treat. The parasitic fungus lives primarily under the nail plate on the nail bed, so is tricky to reach. Paint on lacquers are only 20-30% effective on distal nail edge infections despite drug company claims. The drugs are 70-80% effective, but unfortunately the drug gets absorbed over time into the nail plate which cannot be controlled so gets into other tissues too e.g. hair, skin, and liver! A liver function test is usually required. Scary:|.
For the last 2 years I have been using lasers to eradicate OM and it works. I started with the conventional thermal YAG laser, but this can be a little uncomfortable although 75-80% effective. Recently I have swapped to the Lunula Cold Laser as showcased on ITV's 'This Morning' with Dr Chris Steele. It uses 2 wavelengths: 1 which acts stimulates a fungicidal effect, and the other stimulates an immune-response encouraging quick healthy new nail regrowth. The results have been amazing, 92-97% effective. Almost too good that I doubted the results at first! ;):).
Laser or any treatment is no good if you don't tackle any Athlete's Foot infection, spore ridden shoes, poor hygiene, nail varnish left on for too long, hands in and out of water. if you break that protective acid mantle on your skin you are prone. 50% of finger nail infections are caused by yeast! Check diet, wear gloves. If you don't treat an infection it will spread and slowly destroy your nail bed so you will be left will thickened nails.

Did you know that parasitic nail fungi can survive toxic environments like sewers, have a reproductive cycle, 50%+ of people over 70 have OM.
 

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