A woman loses her toenails after doing a fish pedicure

An American woman suffered from a fall of the toenails after a session of fish pedicure, a treatment to treat calluses. This clinical case was unveiled on July 3 in the journal JAMA Dermatology . It is after six months of trouble that the young woman in her twenties told her health problems about her nail problems.

The patient presented onychomadesis, a pathology that results in a spontaneous fall of the nails . His first two toes were the most affected.

The practitioner sought with the young woman the cause of this disorder: family history, vaccination or recent medication … Without success. The patient then evoked a fish pedicure, performed a few months before the onset of her first problems. It is the multiple bites of the fish which would have weakened the nails of the patient.

© Other

A practice at risk

The fish pedicure is a popular treatment for ten years in beauty institutes. The feet are immersed in a tank of water heated between 25 and 30 ° C, filled with small fish that devour the dead skin of the customers. Nicknamed "fish doctor" on Garra rufa usually feeds on plankton.

This treatment carries risks. Two cases of Staphylococcus aureus infection have already been identified. The fault is insufficiently disinfected tanks and fish that are used successively on several customers. In the United States, care has even been banned from ten states.

Awaiting regulation

Fish pedicures are perfectly legal in France. But they are currently not governed by specific health regulations. This is why the National Health Security Agency (ANSES) considers it necessary to regulate practices by means of appropriate regulations, including procedures for admission and user hygiene, control and self-monitoring of patient quality. the water of the tanks, the obligation of traceability of the batches and the sanitary control of the fish, etc.

It should be specified that there are also fish manicures . They are less widespread. The risks are the same as for the pedicure … as long as you think about washing your hands before and after. Indeed, without this washing the bacteria could be transmitted from the hands to the mouth, and thus be introduced into the mouth and the digestive system.