14 DAY TRIAL // A 17-year-old girl from Pontypool, Wales, has had one of her fingers amputated after using a false nail glue that led to a serious infection.
Sarah Greenaway was rushed to the hospital in agony because her finger had started rotting after applying fingernail glue she bought for £3.20 ($5.28/€3.83) at a Boots store in her town.
The teenage girl used the cosmetic DIY glue to put on her own false nails at home, but after a few days she noticed that her index finger on her right hand had turned green and appeared to start dying.
Daily Mail tells us that the doctors had to cut off the top of the finger to save her hand. They also cut the finger open from tip to palm to clean it out and remove the infection.
“I bought the glue for a set of nails I had at home already. All I wanted was for my nails to look nice. But later the next day my finger was really hurting so I took the nails off.
“My nail had turned a greeny-black color. When antibiotics didn’t work at A&E, I was rushed in for surgery. It was very frightening. I was crying in pain, it was so scary,” the girl said.
Sarah underwent an hour-long operation and lost the top half inch (1.27cm) of her finger. She was put on antibiotics and kept in hospital for observation.
Unfortunately, her bad luck didn't stop there, as she then contracted an MRSA infection and had to spend two more nights in Royal Gwent hospital, Newport.
The girl's mother says it is a relief she didn't lose her whole finger. However, Sarah is now having physiotherapy sessions to help regain the use of her finger. She will definitely never wear false nails again.
It seems that all her problems were caused by a simple nail glue, called Broadway Jet Dry Nail Glue. She is now considering legal action against the manufacturer.
“I cannot understand how my finger became so infected. It may have been a bad batch of glue and we are thinking about taking legal action,” the teenager added.
However, beauty experts say that the infection was likely caused by poor nail preparation before the glue was applied, not by the false nail glue.
Beauty therapist Louise Thomas-Minns told Daily Mail that regular people don't usually have the right knowledge when it comes to correctly applying false nails and that can lead to unfortunate situations like this one.
“I always get very worried about these at home treatments. It's really unfortunate, and I have massive sympathy for that, but it is probably down to her ability in applying it,” she said.