At the nail salon
Trouble spot: Foot spa
There’s nothing more relaxing than soaking your feet in a tub of warm, bubbling water … or is there? In 2000, 110 women who had pedicures at the same northern California salon were infected with a nasty bacteria, Mycobacterium fortuitum; some of the women had dozens of boils and were on antibiotics for months. Afterward, scientists from the California Department of Health Services took swabs from 30 whirlpool foot spas in 18 nail salons around the state and found potentially dangerous bacteria in all but one.
Since then, California has required nail salons to follow specific cleaning and disinfection procedures for their foot spas, but not all states have the same requirements—and not all salons follow the rules. In fact, 27 California salons were put on probation for foot-spa violations in the first six months of 2008 alone, says Kevin Flanagan, spokesman for the California Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology.
Other foot-spa worries: warts and fungal infections. “Both spread on wet skin,” says Carolyn Jacob, MD, director of Chicago Cosmetic Surgery and Dermatology.
Protect yourself
Wash your hands and feet with antibacterial soap before any procedure, and ask your technician to wash her hands.
Ask to see the foot-spa-cleaning log, Flanagan says. Salons with the highest standards drain all the water, scrub the residue from the walls, and run a cycle of disinfectant for 10 minutes between every client—a procedure that’s particularly important for older machines with pipes that can harbor standing water, a haven for bacteria. Many salons are switching to pipeless foot spas, which don’t have a place for water and bacteria to build up; they still should be disinfected between clients and at the end of the day, and filtration screens should be periodically removed and cleaned.
Don’t shave your legs the day of your pedicure because even a small cut can offer an entry point for minuscule bacteria and other infection-causing bugs. “See a doctor if you have a suspicious spot that won’t go away or gets worse after a pedicure,” says Oliver Zong, a New York City podiatrist. If your aesthetician has a cut on her hands, reschedule your appointment, ask for a different technician, or ask her to wear gloves—a practice some salons employ automatically.
Next page: Trouble spot: Mani and pedi instruments
Comments (1)
one location at Mariner Blvd,SpringHill,Fl-34609
is still using an illegal chemical liquid in store.
Getting criminal warning and probation.
The rules:
“Your email address is not published or shared.”