A finger stroke was amputated after developing a rare cancer

Courtney Withorn began biting her fingernails as a teenager after experiencing torments from bullies at school. The habit became so severe at one point that she completely nibbled the vignette.

Earlier this year, Withorn, a 20-year-old psychology student from Australia, noticed that the skin under her nail was turning black. In July, doctors diagnosed him with a rare form of cancer, the British news website The Sun reported. They were forced to amputate her thumb after several surgeries.

"I can not even explain how conscious I was … I always had fake nails to hide it because it was black," she explained, explaining how she had hiding his thumb from his friends and family.

She finally met a doctor "for aesthetic reasons" who directed her to a plastic surgeon. They planned to remove the bed from the nail and cover it with a skin graft.

"But before my first surgery to remove the nail bed," said Withorn at the Sun, "the doctors were able to say that something was wrong and decided to do a biopsy."

They discovered that Withorn had subgingival melanoma, a form of cancer that usually affects the bed of the nails, the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands. Some studies link the cause of cancer to a trauma, such as a cut or injury, not just sun exposure, like many skin cancers.

Withorn told the Sun that she thought that biting her nail had caused cancer.

The doctors tried to remove the malignant cells during three surgeries, but were forced to amputate lest the cancer spread.

She remains recovering after surgery and has not yet heard whether the cancer has spread to two lymph node doctors excised for testing.

"If it's clear, the surgeon will monitor me for the next five years and I get regular tests and blood," she said.

She has been forced to postpone her university studies, but plans to resume her classes after her recovery.