A fish pedicure is suspected of causing a woman’s toenails to stop growing and fall off.
The woman, who is in her 20s, initially thought she had a condition called onychomadesis, Gizmodo reported, but a dermatologist ruled it out because it involves having a major illness or taking certain medications.
The only other possible reason for the toenail loss was the pedicure she had had months earlier, which involved having toothless carp nibble the dead skin off her feet, Gizmodo reported.
“While the mechanism of action is not entirely clear, it is likely due to the fish traumatizing the nail matrix,” assistant dermatology professor at Columbia University’s Weil Cornell Medicine Sheri Lipner told Gizmodo.
Fish pedicures are common outside the U.S., particularly in China. Ten states have banned the treatments because of health risks like infections being carried from one person to another by the fish. Bacteria also can also be transmitted when the fish are fed. The pedicures have been used to treat psoriasis in some cases.
“I do not recommend fish pedicures for any medical or aesthetic purpose,” Lipner told Gizmodo.
The woman’s toenails may grow back in 12 to 18 months, given that toenails only grow around 1 millimeter per month, CNN reported.
Where the woman got the pedicure was not revealed to protect her privacy.
Twitter users had a lot to say about this story, including an allusion to a similar occurrence on the Nickelodeon kids’ TV show “Victorious.”
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