After the fish pedicure, the woman loses her nails

(CNN) – After a young woman's nails began to part with her toes, a doctor finally pinpointed the reason: a fish pedicure, according to a report released Tuesday in the JAMA Dermatology review. Previously, the woman had soaked her feet in a bathtub filled with a small fish called Garra rufa who will eat the dead skin when there is no plankton. It was only later that she noticed that her nails were starting to dissipate.

"I think it's probably more common than we think," said author of the report, Dr. Shari R. Lipner, an assistant professor of dermatology. Weill Cornell Medicine and Director of the Nail Division

"We do not see the collapse [nail] before months after the event, so I think it's difficult for patients and the doctors – especially if they do not know it. "This phenomenon, known to doctors under the name of Onychomadese, usually results in the fall of the nail long after an initial event ( as an injury) stops the growth of the nails. . In his report, Lipner describes this as a "relatively common physical examination result" related to infections, drugs, autoimmune and hereditary diseases.

Lipner says that the patient had no medical history that she could relate to her abnormal nails. . Although there is no definitive test for nail loss induced by nibbling, "I think we are almost sure that it was the pedicure of fish," she said.

"I'm not convinced at all." Dr. Antonella Tosti, dermatology professor Fredric Brandt at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, wrote in an email.

Tosti, a former president of the European Nail Society, said that the woman's problem could be caused by something much more banal: overlapping toes in a certain type of shoe

"This "It's not uncommon for women with a Greek foot … who wear high heels and pointy shoes," says Tosti, referring to feet whose toes are longer than the first, like Greek statues.

Toenails usually grow to about 1 millimeter a month, says Lipner, so that a nail can take up to a year to regrow completely.

OTHER RISKS

Lipner is not aware of any other case of this kind related to fish spas, whose popularity seems to have drawn from unfounded allegations about their health benefits, according to his report. However, the use of "fish doctor", as it is also called, goes back further in other countries, such as Turkey.

Another species of fish that "grows teeth and can draw blood" is sometimes confused with rufa and used in fish pedicures, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lipner has not been able to identify the fish species involved in this case.

Although Lipner believes that the woman's problems stem from the physical impact of the fish biting at the nail, she notes that there have been reports of infections associated with the fish. pedicures, too.

Experts say that they do not know how infections could spread by pedicure of fish. This could be due to persistent microbes from those who were there last, compared to the fish itself. Health experts have expressed concern that in spas, fish are recycled from one person to another and that bathtubs are not properly cleaned between uses

in the UK -United. very quickly, "said Amanda Walsh, a senior scientist with Public Health England's Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses team, who has been working with the UK's Health Protection Agency for a number of years. produce the agency's 2011 guidelines on fish spas

recommended for other types of beauty salons, but there were special contraindications for fish pedicures that needed to be considered; says that in 1965, a survey conducted by the UK Fish Health Inspectorate revealed a bacterium outbreak among thousands of these fish, which helped to reduce the risks of bacteria. had been transported from Indonesia to British pedicure spas The fish were found with bulging eyes, many haemorrhages around the gills and mouths According to David Verner-Jeffreys, chief microbiologist at the Center for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture in the United Kingdom, the culprit was a streptococcal bacterium, a strain associated with fish such as tilapia

. This does not necessarily represent a significant risk to humans, but it shows that they can carry things that are unpleasant for both fish and humans, "he added.

Remains a very long time "People were passionate about this idea and then moved on to the next step," said Verner-Jeffreys, who added that concerns about fish spas are not limited to human health [19659015haveconcernsaboutthewelfareoftheseanimalsbeingtransportedaroundtheworldoftenbypeoplewithlimitedexperience"hesaidandahealthyfishheaddedwouldmean"lessproblemsaround"

What's in a name?

Despite the name, "fish pedicures do not meet the legal definition of a pedicure," the CDC says.

Their use was banned in some states of the United States – at least 10, by Lipner's account.

While Garra rufa was studied as a treatment for psoriasis – but not in context "I would be very surprised if you found a dermatologist who recommends Garra rufa pedicures," said Lipner.

"I think we can pretty definitively say that getting a fish pedicure is probably not the way to go to deal with the conditions of the skin and nails."

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