The nail shop, and Lisa Harrison Williams, who worked there, had a strange request from a client, they wanted a dark vertical line, from the nail root to the tip covered with nail polish.
This marking on her nail had given rise to many manicurists speculating on what it was caused by, over the years, but generally most thought it was calcium deficiency, and some assumed it was hereditary.
Lisa at the nail shop was not convinced and although reportedly, she said she didn’t want to scare the woman, she did what she felt was right. She told the woman it was imperative to seek medical advice straight away.
Cancer is a general term, but, basically a small part of your body has a mutation, an error in your DNA, that keeps multiplying and getting bigger and bigger, sometimes resulting in an tumor.
A tumor, though is not a single sign of cancer. Melanoma, cancer of the skin, is diagnosed commonly through changes in moles and alike and irregular skin colorations.
The slightly shocked customer left the nail salon but returned a few days later with some sad news, the mark was indeed cancer, it was a Subungual Melanoma.
Subungual Melanoma is a very rare and quite aggressive cancer of the nail root. Pigmentation of the vertical line spreads across the skin and then permeates surrounding tissue. Cracking, brittleness, and sometimes bleeding at the site of pigmentation can be common symptoms.
Early detection is the best defense here, commonly the most used treatment is surgery to remove the cancerous tissue. Onset tends to be about middle-age, and typically it is in darker-skinned adults.
Williams shared her story publicly via her social media as a precautionary tale, she hops that others that want to cover up what they think is an unsightly mark will perhaps see a doctor.
Ironically, this kind of pigmentation and stripes in the nails can be common and benign. Hereditary marks will show up in many nails, but a real mark of Subungual Melanoma is that of the pigmented stripe affecting, usually, just one nail, mainly the thumbs or big toes.
She says; keep an eye out for changes in nail beds.
“And please keep an eye on the nail beds—toes and fingers—-of your elderly loved ones and your loved ones that aren’t physically able to notice changes in the nail beds! Early diagnosis can make all the difference in the world!!!”
