Be Cautious When Visiting a Nail Salon: 6 Spa Safety Pointers
To keep those toes beautifully polished for warm-weather sandals, you may be visiting your favorite nail salon more often this summer. You love the look of your feet after a pedicure, but make sure that you don’t get more than you bargained for – a fungal or bacterial infection.
It doesn’t happen frequently, but sometimes a spa patron contracts an unpleasant infection from a pedicure. This is preventable if you do your homework before your visit.
Here are our top 6 nail salon safety tips:
1. Before your visit, make sure that the salon, the nail technicians, and cosmetologists are licensed. The licenses should be posted in a visible area.
2. Avoid shaving your legs for 2 days before your appointment so bacteria can’t enter your body through tiny skin cuts. Reschedule your appointment if you have any type of cut or scrape on your legs or feet.
3. Check the business for general cleanliness. It should be free of trash with no dirty towels visible. The nail tech’s hands and nails should be immaculate. The footbath should be squeaky clean and disinfected between customers.
4. Bring your own tools, or make sure that they have either come out of a newly-opened package or a disinfectant solution. Tote along your own flip-flops to wear.
5. Check that single-use tools such as toe separators, cotton pads, and emery boards are brand new for each use.
6. It’s all right for the technician to push cuticles back but never cut them.
If you do notice any problem with your feet such as pain, oozing, itching, redness or warmth after a spa visit, please give us a call so we can check it out.
Special Warning for Patients with Diabetes
If you have neuropathy or nerve damage from diabetes, you may not be able to feel any pain while having a pedicure. The technician may nick your skin, and that can later worsen into a sore or ulcer if you don’t notice it.
You also may have poor circulation, which means the white blood cells won’t be able to reach the injury to help with healing.
It’s important to tell the nail technician that you have diabetes so they will take extra care when working with pedicure tools. Also, ask them not to cut the toenails too short.
Let Us Know If You Have Any Problems Following a Pedicure
The foot specialists at PodiatryCare, PC and the Heel Pain Center have extensive experience in treating all aspects of foot problems. Our team of doctors which consists of Dr. Robert Marra, Dr. Thomas Johnson, Dr. Kristen Winters, Dr. Laura Vander Poel, and Dr. Ryan Donegan is dedicated to serving you with all of the newest diagnostic and treatment technologies. Many treatments and surgeries can be handled right in our offices. Please call us at (860) 741-3041 to make an appointment in one of our offices in Hartford County, conveniently located in Enfield, Windsor and South Windsor, CT.