A Scots mum who mistook a mark on her fingernail for a bruise only to discover it was actually cancer was forced to get it removed - but now enjoys a ten percent discount on manicures. Stacey Boss said she spotted a thin brown streak that had been lurking under the fake nails on her right thumb back in 2019 but just shrugged it off until a nail technician spotted it.
The 32-year-old claims she was refused a manicure and instead advised to book an appointment with a dermatologist. The mum-of-one visited her GP shortly after and was referred to a dermatologist but experienced delays due to the pandemic.
She eventually had her nail and part of her bone removed on March 27 this year. The record label owner was diagnosed with subungual melanoma - a rare type of skin cancer that occurs under the nails.
Stacey breathed a massive sigh of relief but said that doctors have now suggested other investigations to determine where or not the cancer has spread to other parts of her body. She says the nail technician prompting her to get it checked could have possibly saved her life and that she now gets a shellac French manicure for a reduced price, due to having less fingernails.
The music lover is now keen to raise awareness of the importance of everybody checking nails for abnormalities as regularly as possible. Stacey, from Glasgow, said: "If I get a discount, we call it a ten percent discount because I've only got nine fingernails.
"A nail technician refused to do a manicure and asked me to have it invested with dermatology. I was very confused, I didn't know anything about how melanoma skin cancer could be in a nail bed. It was mind boggling.
"I'd noticed it for a long time and just kind of shrugged it off as maybe a bruise. I'd just got used to it and it wasn't until someone pointed it out that it was a big shocking moment. The nail technician possibly saved my life, she's well trained and was very aware, more than me."
The rapper claims she visited a GP on 27th November 2019 and was referred to a dermatologist. She had her first assessment in the last week of October 2022 and eventually had a biopsy of her nail bed and it removed on the 27th March 2023.
Stacey said: "It was like a streak, it was like someone had marked my nail with a permanent marker from the cuticle to the top. It was thin and skinny and almost as if someone had dented a mark on it, by the end it looked like a smiley face due to the shadow of the line, the dent and the way the cuticle grows.
"It was weird how it just kept growing up, up until the point of removal that's how it was. The way it's cut out has removed even down to the bone. It was such a relief to have it out I'll tell you that. It wasn't a shock to be told I had this cancer, as I'd already known.
"I believe it was the same way I knew I had a brain tumour, I knew something was wrong. I had anxiety, my whole body was changing, the line was never going away, it was always there.
"I'd accepted the possibility of losing my nail so that mentally I was prepared for it being in situ. I'd tell others to check your nails, maybe not a daily thing but every now and again."
Symptoms of subungual melanoma include streaks on the nails, colour changes in or around the nail, a bruise under the nail that does not heal, and the nails separating from the nail bed.
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