A mum is warning that many acrylic nails could be hiding a 'poisonous' ingredient that left her teenage daughter's thumb so infected she needed her nail surgically removed.
Rebecca Scott had treated her 15-year-old daughter Laylah Crane to £45 acrylic nails at a salon ahead of her year 11 prom on Friday, June 21.
Unfortunately, a few days after attending the celebration, she claims Laylah bumped two of her fingers, causing the 'strong' artificials to tear up the natural nail underneath.
A shocking photo shows Laylah's 'sore' natural thumbnail ripping off under the glittery acrylic design.
But as her friend soaked and filed Laylah's false talons off she discovered 'yellow pus' under one of the injured fingers.
With her thumbnail being too painful to remove at the salon, Rebecca says she took her daughter to the urgent care centre at Warrington Hospital to seek professional help.
She claims here she was told by a doctor that Laylah had developed an infection under two of her nails caused by her set of prom acrylics.
Laylah was then prescribed antibiotics and transferred to the children's ward at Alder Hey Children's Hospital where she later underwent surgery to have her natural thumbnail removed.
Since having her thumbnail removed, Rebecca now believes Laylah's infection was caused by the original salon using a substance called MMA (Methyl methacrylate) on her nails.
MMA is a chemical liquid used to make some types of nail extensions and has been branded 'poisonous' by some industry experts.
It is thought to be a likely allergen, which can cause severe reactions even with minimal exposure.
The 37-year-old now claims her daughter may be left without a thumbnail for life and says since the operation Laylah will never get acrylic nails done again.
Rebecca, from Runcorn in Cheshire, said: "She got her nails done before prom. This was a treat for Laylah and her first time getting acrylic nails done.
"On the Sunday following prom she knocked one of her fingers.
"There was a little bit of blood around so it looked like it had lifted her natural nail a little bit but you couldn't really tell and because she wasn't in a lot of pain she forgot about it.
"But then on the following Tuesday she knocked her thumb.
"There was no chip at all in the acrylic because it was that strong but, on her thumb, it had ripped her natural nail and didn't look good at all.
"One of my close friends is a nail tech so I rang her and she told me to come down to the salon and she would soak the existing nails off so she could have a look at the damage caused.
"She soaked the nails off. When she got to the finger, she slowly filed this nail off as it was sore and didn't want to put any product on it.
"When she filed it down, she found an infection and a lot of yellow pus under the finger.
"She said it was infected. When it came to the thumb, she said it looked too painful and wouldn't touch it.
"Laylah has now had her nail removed. She had to undergo a general anaesthetic and be put to sleep to remove her natural nail.
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"They can't guarantee that her thumbnail will grow back. It can do, but sometimes it doesn't so she may be left without a thumbnail for life.
"At the moment it is bandaged up so she can't really do a lot because she has no use of one of her thumbs for the next 10 days at least and she is still taking antibiotics."
Rebecca claims when Laylah knocked her nails the acrylics should have popped off but because this 'strong' substance was used on her fingers it caused her natural nails to lift off instead.
She is now warning others to check the products used on your nails before going ahead with treatment.
Rebecca said: "The [second] nail technician suspected that [the original technician] had used MMA on the nails.
"When normal acrylic is soaked off it should go to a flaky substance but when she was soaking this off it went into a glue and said she thought it was MMA.
"The doctor said she had an infection under the nail and because the nail had been knocked, they said because the acrylic was so strong it lifted the natural nail underneath.
"If an acrylic is knocked it should pop off and come away from the natural nail but because the acrylic used on Laylah's nails was so strong it pulled her natural nail bed off and this is because they used the MMA substance.
"Her nails didn't even last a week"
"Her nails didn't even last a week. It's a lot of money to throw away.
"It's upsetting because you get a lot of nail technicians charging the same price but they are using genuine products.
"Then you've got salons that are using cheap products and charging ridiculous prices and it's not good.
"You should do your research before getting your nails done and go to a reputable salon.
"People need to do the research of where they are getting their nails done.
"I think this has put Laylah off for life. I don't think she'll get acrylic nails done again."
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