*Editor’s Note: Some of the pictures included in this report may be disturbing or hard to look at.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – A Knoxville woman is now speaking out after she says a trip to the nail salon turned into a nightmare.
Jayne Sharp says she developed flesh-eating bacteria after she says her thumb was nicked at Jazzy Nail Bar in Turkey Creek back in February. Doctors warned she could lose her arm or even her life.
Sharp had to undergo multiple surgeries. She’s lost feeling in her thumb and says two of her other fingers tingle. It’s a daily reminder for her of what she went through earlier this year.
“I was totally shocked that you could walk into a nail salon and have this happen to you,” she said.
It all started, she said, just two hours after leaving the nail bar. Sharp says her thumb started throbbing and she developed flu-like symptoms.
She got it checked out, and her nurse practitioner made sure to keep in touch. It’s something Sharp credits with saving her life.
“I went home with a shot of some pain medicine, and so I slept, and so I really credit her and her care for waking me to see how I was feeling, or I would have slept through the night. And the doctors said if I hadn’t gotten to the emergency room when I did, that I wouldn’t be here,” she said.
Multiple surgeries later, Sharp is now missing a chunk of her thumb. What happened earlier this year still feels like a blur, she said, but she’s got a daily reminder of what she went through, and one she says serves as a learning experience for both salons and visitors.
“There are so many girls and guys that go to salons to get manicures and pedicures, and they have no idea what can happen to them,” she said. “Often times through the day because I cannot feel everything with my arm and hand, I am reminded of that horible time, but I’m very grateful that I lived through it when some don’t.”
We reached out to Jazzy Nail Bar multiple times. When we called them Tuesday afternoon, the person answering the phone hung up on us.
We also reached out to the state department that inspects all salons annually and after complaints are filed. A spokesperson told us they inspected Jazzy Nails at the time and did not find any violation.
