Worst fingernails & toe nails I've ever seen - on the same person

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Bev Rose

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I had a client booked in last week for a spa manicure & spa pedicure.

She arrived still wearing nail enamel (I'm always suspect when new clients do that)

Anyway, I did the usual consultation, santised her hands & removed her nail enamel & nearly passed out (Fingernails). This poor lady had the worst case of onycholysis I've ever seen in my 7 year career.

I treated her nails with great care & performed a very gentle spa mani (CND). The pics show the before and after. She has booked in for fortnightly manis. With strict instructions to use solar oil carefully daily.
She is a severe picker of the skin around the nail and UNDER the nail, but not the nails themselves. She has never had enhancements on so I can only guess that this condition has been caused by the clients constant picking.
What would you of done differently in this case? Have I done the right thing?

Her toes....

She did tell me she used to have a fungal toe nail infection. Well after santising her feet & removing the enamel - you can see by the pics what I found. She also had something hard & brown growing under one of her toes. She doesn't wear trainers or go running or anything. I told her that I was unable to perform a pedicure/treatment on her feet as I suspected she had some sort of fungal toenail infection (told her I'm not qualified to diagnose etc) and recommended she seek out a podiatrist/doctor.

Again, what would you have done in this case?

Thanks xxx
 

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Wow, look how much better her fingernails look after your spa manicure!
 
you did the right thing.:hug:

About the toe-nails, my mums looks like that to, they grow very funny and weird and it's like the grow more narrow. She has been to the docs, as it looks like it is fungal, but all samples they grew, said no fungal infection. I treat her now, but they will never look good again... But doc suspected that she had a fungal infection untreated for a few years hence the look, so sending your client of to a doctor was the right thing...
 
Poor lady ,
Ok I know her fingernails are self inflicted but still a habit is hard to brake isnt it ? It must have taken a lot of guts for her to come to you and show you!

They look so much better in the after photo well done :hug:

Did you shellac her ? I've found shellac has totally been the answer for several now EX nail bitters!

I read on here ages ago something Geeg wrote about biters when triggered to bits/pick ect physiologically going for the uneven serface , broken nail, hang nail chipped polish ect and that once they had sorted that they naturally would go on to the next.....

So shellac and its staying power has been fab for keeping the nails uniform so when triggered the biters are not going straight for them.

The other thing that I've found with shellac is that I have separation on one of my pinky's (from a mild gardening accident ) eeewww ,
With polish it feels volnrable almost wobbly! ,with enhancements it feels heavy when it grows and I had to constantly file it down as its gowning at 2 xs the speed of the others! And the filing was making it un attach again!
With shellac it feels like a normal nail! I keep forgetting how it is until I soke off .... Its re attaching nicely now to !
 
Sometimes when you have psoriasis the nail can come away from the nail bed and I have seen cases of this much worse than this lady. The toe nail picture wasn't really clear enough to diagnose anything but she definitely needs a culture of whatever is growing there.
 
The little nails could just be thickened from trauma. The nails on the two outside toes often end up like that from shoes being too tight but it's difficult to tell from the pics. The growth under her nail could be nail bed tufts that have bled when they were cut last. But sending her to a pod was probably the best call.

I had a client with severe onycholysis and she used the solar oil. I also recommended diluted teatree oil under the nail to make sure she doesn't spread a fungal infection that was evident under one of her nails. 4 months down the line her nails look fab now. We have been using Gelish and her nails almost look normal now. There are some pics in my albums.
 
Can I ask please my mum has what I thought was a fungal infection on both her big toes and separation from nail bed (1 of them half way down). She had exactly the same thing last year and her separated nail fell off in the end on both toes then grew back pink eventually. She went to the doctors who gave her a treatment to put on them weekly (no tests, samples done!)for fungal infection and I've just been to do it on her today. I decided to chop the yellow affected part of the nail away and underneath it doesnt look healthy, the nail bed is all frayed and tatty looking at the top? My question is could she ever achieve a normal looking nail in the future or will it just keep reoccurring now the nail bed looks like that?Also wondering, told her to keep dropping cuticle oil on it for now but I would get her some tea tree oil, how much do you dilute it please? x
 
Oh my gosh, that poor woman! I'm still in school but would have done exactly what you did, I would not have done any sort of service on the feet, totally not worth doing further harm or having it come back to bite you in the butt, as if you had caused it, so good job!
 
Poor lady ,
Ok I know her fingernails are self inflicted but still a habit is hard to brake isnt it ? It must have taken a lot of guts for her to come to you and show you!

They look so much better in the after photo well done :hug:

Did you shellac her ? I've found shellac has totally been the answer for several now EX nail bitters!

I read on here ages ago something Geeg wrote about biters when triggered to bits/pick ect physiologically going for the uneven serface , broken nail, hang nail chipped polish ect and that once they had sorted that they naturally would go on to the next.....

So shellac and its staying power has been fab for keeping the nails uniform so when triggered the biters are not going straight for them.

The other thing that I've found with shellac is that I have separation on one of my pinky's (from a mild gardening accident ) eeewww ,
With polish it feels volnrable almost wobbly! ,with enhancements it feels heavy when it grows and I had to constantly file it down as its gowning at 2 xs the speed of the others! And the filing was making it un attach again!
With shellac it feels like a normal nail! I keep forgetting how it is until I soke off .... Its re attaching nicely now to !

Thanks for that advice.

I was a little unsure as to wether to use Shellac on her nails at all as they were in such a state. I didn't want to add any strngth to them that would possibly do her more damage if she picked iykwim.
When she comes in next time I will certainly look at doing Shellac, depending on how well she's managed to leave them alone.

Thanks for all the other replies too.

I did wonder if the little toes were like that just simply by the fact that they are little toes and they get squashed & pushed under the foot in day to day life? Will see if she's been to the docs. It'll take some time for them to culture anything anyway.
 
Have had a few clients like this - this condition can sometimes indicate thyroid trouble as has been the case with client I saw. Recommended she visit the doctor and she did indeed have thyroid trouble, she was well impressed with me lol :)
 
Have had a few clients like this - this condition can sometimes indicate thyroid trouble as has been the case with client I saw. Recommended she visit the doctor and she did indeed have thyroid trouble, she was well impressed with me lol :)


Hi,
Which condition are you referring to regarding possible thyroid disfunction? I suffer with thyroid problems too, but have normal nails on both fingers & toes, so I suppose it's not everyone who will have these symptoms (I'm thinking about the toe nails). I will check with her though, thanks for suggesting it xxxx
 
Hi Bev - it has always been my understanding that Onycholysis is a common disorder with many causes but also linked to the thyroid.
In my experience - I have had maybe 10 or more with this condition. I have sensitively enquired if they had thyroid problems, in all but one they knew about it and were being treated or had part removed. The one who didn't attended her doctor (who happened to be my doctor) and yes she had thyroid trouble. That is not to say that everyone does as there can be many causes - I repeat - in unexplained Onycholysis! I now include this question on my client consultation.

Onycholysis is known to be associated with thyroid disease (especially hyperthyroidism) but physicians probably do not routinely screen for underlying thyroid disease.
In a case report 3 patients with onycholysis were investigated for thyroid disease. In 2 patients onycholysis was the presenting sign of previously undiagnosed hypothyroidism whereas the 3rd developed onycholysis while undergoing therapy for hypothyroidism. In the conclusion these 3 patients appeared to suggest that patients with unexplained onycholysis should be screened for asymptomatic thyroid disease.
Hope this helps :)
 

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