Carly@Manic
Well-Known Member
Hello lovely geeks,
I am still relatively new to the Industry having qualified in June and my business has been going since Aug/Sept time. I’m mobile at the moment, and I really could do with some colleagues to confer with! I’m after a little bit of advice about an elderly client of mine that I saw for the third time today.
I initially saw her just for a consultation as she had explained on the phone that she had been to the “local discount salon” for regular L&P over a period of months and on removal all 10 nails were very dark coloured, cracked, split, wafer-thin, misshapen – the lot. The removal was around 4-5 months ago now, on my clients insistence, the previous tech told her it was all ok under the nail but my client was fairly sure the enhancement was loose and water, etc, getting in. She was obviously concerned and saw her doctor about the infection. She has had everything thrown at her; a variety of topical fungal treatments as well as swabs taken and a course of anti-biotics from her GP, and she regularly applies almond oil and tea-tree oil.
When I looked at her nails (see pic below), I felt that the discolouration appeared to be fading and that the nail growth looked quite healthy. I felt that there was no active infection due to the appearance and variety of treatments she had been given. My client was deeply distressed at the state of her nails and really wanted to have Shellac put on to hide it. Based on everything above, I decided to put silk overlays onto the nail for a bit of strength as they were so delicate down at the free edge and Shellaced over the top.
All was well and I saw her again today for removal (after 2.5 weeks). Other than one large chip (which she knocked putting down her xmas tree!), everything lasted really well. There was a decent amount of regrowth, which looked healthy. Once I had removed the foils on a couple of the pads I noticed what appeared to be black specks that looked almost like dirt, however, it definitely came from the nail plate rather than from underneath by the hyponychium. On her ring & pinkie fingers, a patch equivalent to zone 2 had more pronounced discolouration compared to the other fingers which all are looking quite good. On her 2 pinkie fingers, although there was regrowth, there was no length at the free edge at all and she was adamant that they were not knocked or filed back.
I filed the length so they are short, really really scrubfreshed the whole area, silk over-layed and Shellaced once more. I advised her of my concerns and advised her to speak with her Pharmacist to see if there’s anything further that they can recommend. I also mentioned that I would see how things were on the next removal, but if there was no improvement that I probably couldn’t continue treatment. It’s tricky because she is 83, takes a variety of medication, but is generally in fairly good health for her age. She does have poor circulation so I expect that things would take a longer time to heal and grow out.
Can I ask your advice? Have I done the wrong thing here in performing the treatment still? She’s such a lovely lady and she is so happy with her nails looking great again (she said she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy Christmas without me doing what I did!). I’m a little disappointed at the rate of improvement, things aren't any worse, but could be better (other than those weird specks on the cotton pad). I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to make things worse for her.
Thanks for reading :hug:
I am still relatively new to the Industry having qualified in June and my business has been going since Aug/Sept time. I’m mobile at the moment, and I really could do with some colleagues to confer with! I’m after a little bit of advice about an elderly client of mine that I saw for the third time today.
I initially saw her just for a consultation as she had explained on the phone that she had been to the “local discount salon” for regular L&P over a period of months and on removal all 10 nails were very dark coloured, cracked, split, wafer-thin, misshapen – the lot. The removal was around 4-5 months ago now, on my clients insistence, the previous tech told her it was all ok under the nail but my client was fairly sure the enhancement was loose and water, etc, getting in. She was obviously concerned and saw her doctor about the infection. She has had everything thrown at her; a variety of topical fungal treatments as well as swabs taken and a course of anti-biotics from her GP, and she regularly applies almond oil and tea-tree oil.
When I looked at her nails (see pic below), I felt that the discolouration appeared to be fading and that the nail growth looked quite healthy. I felt that there was no active infection due to the appearance and variety of treatments she had been given. My client was deeply distressed at the state of her nails and really wanted to have Shellac put on to hide it. Based on everything above, I decided to put silk overlays onto the nail for a bit of strength as they were so delicate down at the free edge and Shellaced over the top.
All was well and I saw her again today for removal (after 2.5 weeks). Other than one large chip (which she knocked putting down her xmas tree!), everything lasted really well. There was a decent amount of regrowth, which looked healthy. Once I had removed the foils on a couple of the pads I noticed what appeared to be black specks that looked almost like dirt, however, it definitely came from the nail plate rather than from underneath by the hyponychium. On her ring & pinkie fingers, a patch equivalent to zone 2 had more pronounced discolouration compared to the other fingers which all are looking quite good. On her 2 pinkie fingers, although there was regrowth, there was no length at the free edge at all and she was adamant that they were not knocked or filed back.
I filed the length so they are short, really really scrubfreshed the whole area, silk over-layed and Shellaced once more. I advised her of my concerns and advised her to speak with her Pharmacist to see if there’s anything further that they can recommend. I also mentioned that I would see how things were on the next removal, but if there was no improvement that I probably couldn’t continue treatment. It’s tricky because she is 83, takes a variety of medication, but is generally in fairly good health for her age. She does have poor circulation so I expect that things would take a longer time to heal and grow out.
Can I ask your advice? Have I done the wrong thing here in performing the treatment still? She’s such a lovely lady and she is so happy with her nails looking great again (she said she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy Christmas without me doing what I did!). I’m a little disappointed at the rate of improvement, things aren't any worse, but could be better (other than those weird specks on the cotton pad). I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to make things worse for her.
Thanks for reading :hug:
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