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Marie Jourdan (Dermatologist)
An American reports having contracted skin cancer at the root of the nail, after having had a manicure. According to the statements of his doctor, it would be because of a papillomavirus. The explanations of Dr Marie Jourdan, dermatologist member of the committee of experts of Doctissimo.
Did she really get skin cancer from her manicure? In any case, this is what Grace Garcia, an American living in California in her fifties, maintains.
A blister on her cuticle
Grace Garcia says that she did not go to her usual beautician, who had no more room to receive her. She therefore chooses another establishment to carry out her nail care. After a few weeks, she says she noticed the appearance of a sort of blister on the cuticle of one of her nails, on her finger, following an injury during the manicure.
After trying to treat it with an antibiotic cream, the wound ends up closing but does not diminish. When she consulted her gynecologist, five months later, she mentioned this wound again and her doctor advised her to see a dermatologist. It is finally the latter who will then offer him a biopsy.
skin cancer, called squamous cell carcinoma
The result of the biopsy comes back and Grace Garcia has the unpleasant surprise to learn that she has skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma. Quoted by Fox News, Grace Garcia can’t believe it. “I couldn’t believe it, something as simple as a manicure could have killed me“.
Indeed, according to the doctor who treated her, Dr. Teo Soleymani, there is a link with the human papillomavirus, HPV, which may have contaminated her through the instruments used.
“In her case, the manicurist hurt her and the tools were probably contaminated hence the gateway for this virus. The virus subsequently triggered the development of this cancer. Interestingly, almost every skin cancer I’ve treated that involved fingers or nails has been associated with high-risk HPV. This is alarming – and it is in rather young patients” adds the doctor, who suspects a link favored by the manicures.
The opinion of Dr Marie Jourdan, dermatologist and member of the Doctissimo expert committee
“According to the story of this woman, she was injured in a nail salon, which would have led to an inoculation of a pro oncogenic HPV virus, ie generating genetic mutations” first explains Marie Jourdan. “What we do not know is whether the cancerous lesion was already there in this case, the bleeding easily induced during the manicure will have made it possible to ring the alarm bell – because the skin was more fragile in this place – or if at On the contrary, it is the lesion that served as the entry point for the virus, allowing the generation of this squamous cell carcinoma. In any case, it remains a localized cancer that could be removed quickly. This reminds you to always consult in the face of a strange wart or a wound that does not heal spontaneously” reminds the specialist.