Signs of melanoma: Doctor’s manicure warning as ‘bruise’ under woman’s thumbnail leads to shock diagnosis

Women who go to beauty salons to get their nails done may increase their risk of skin cancer, a doctor has warned.

dr Samuel Choudhury from Singapore has created a miniseries on the subject tick tock titled New Fear Unlocked, in which he discusses intriguing medical cases from around the world.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Doctor’s warning about nails.

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In one of his latest videos, the GP shared the harrowing story of Karolina Jasko, who was diagnosed with shock melanoma in December 2016 after mistaking a dark line under her thumbnail for a bruise.

The then 18-year-old beauty contestant from the United States had been doing a routine manicure twice a month for years.

But she never noticed anything unusual until her nail technician spotted a line running vertically across her thumbnail.

The student soon discovered that it was indeed a line acral lentiginous melanomaan aggressive type of skin cancer that occurs under the nails.

“This is a story about how this beauty queen almost lost her finger,” said Dr. Choudhury.

“From a young age Karolina entered many beauty pageants and part of beauty pageant preparation is getting her nails done.

“She does this very regularly so her nail technician found it unusual that she had a bruise with a long black line around her nail which was ignored.”

It wasn’t until a week later that Karolina was referred to a dermatologist after developing a nail infection.

“The doctor wasn’t very concerned about that, but he was very concerned about the line,” explained Dr. Choudhury.

“So he urgently referred her to see a dermatologist. And when the biopsy was done, it was confirmed that she had melanoma.

“She was very young and when she thought about what could be causing this, she realized that her frequent UV gel manicures were probably the cause.”

A few weeks after diagnosis, Karolina underwent surgery on the entire nail matrix to ensure the cancer did not return.

Doctors removed a skin graft from her groin to cover her thumb where her nail used to be.

dr Choudhury warned that exposure to UV rays can accelerate the growth of subungual melanoma.

“This is basically a tanning bed for your nails, so all together it strongly suggests it can cause cancer,” he said.

“So instead of becoming a future statistic, you can reduce your risk by using regular nail polish or by pressing nails on it.

“And if you really need that, minimize the frequency as damage accumulates over time.”

dr Choudhury recommended always wearing at least SPF 30 or fingerless gloves with UV protection when treating nails.

“Scares me”

His video has been viewed more than 2.4 million times – and many have commented on his case.

“I tried UV treatment on my nails once and I had a strange feeling. It scared me so much I never had to do it again,” one revealed.

One confessed: “No, I love getting my nails done.”

Another revealed: “Ummm… not that I’m looking at that with a line like that on my nail.”

One added: “Oh my god being so broke and couldn’t afford gel really saved me.”

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