A woman is suing a Portland, Ore., nail salon, claiming she contracted herpes from an acrylic manicure.
The woman, known as S.R. in court documents, filed a $1.75 million lawsuit against PDX Nails, claiming that following a June 2023 manicure, she developed sores on her hands and was diagnosed with the disease, according to a report from The Oregonian/Oregon Live.
The outlet reports that she alleges the nail technician didn’t wear gloves, and stored manicure tools in an Altoids tin.
PDX Nails owns a second location, which has allegedly been fined for “failing to disinfect used tools” and not properly cleaning a foot spa, The Oregonian/Oregon Live report says.
The woman said that two of her fingers started to swell and become inflamed, according to the report, and four days after the manicure, she developed blisters on one finger.
She visited an urgent care clinic, which swabbed the blisters — and diagnosed her with herpetic whitlow.
It’s an “uncommon” infection around the fingernail, the Cleveland Clinic says, impacting an estimated 2 out of 100,000 people.
It’s caused by the herpes simplex virus “when the virus penetrates your skin through a break in your skin near your nail.”
“The flare-ups can be super, super painful,” she told The Oregonian/Oregon Live. “It’s always on my mind.”
The woman — who claims she didn’t have herpes before visiting the salon — told the outlet she’s taking antivirals, but still gets flare-ups on her hands. As a result, she has to keep her hands bandaged or covered up because the virus is contagious.
She also shared that she’s concerned about how to manage the condition— which has no cure — if she ever has children.
“People have asked ‘What happened to your finger?” the woman told The Oregonian/Oregon Live. “I don’t want to tell them what it really is because it’s really embarrassing.”
PEOPLE reached out to PDX Nails, which said, “We have no comment right now.”
Make sure your nail techs use gloves and sanitize their equipment. This is why you can’t let just anybody touch your hands/feet.
