In one of my first posts, I talked about the different types of melanoma and where you can end up with a lesion (i.e. pretty much everywhere on the human body). A recent story put the spotlight on a little-known way melanoma can manifest – on a fingernail.
In the story, a manicurist had a client that came in looking for a nail polish color that could cover a dark stripe that had appeared on her nail. While the other manicurists thought the stripe came from a variety of sources, one woman realized that it was something her client needed to get checked out immediately. It turned out that the stripe was actually melanoma. Unfortunately, the prognosis of the woman who had the stripe-that-turned-out-to-be-melanoma is not good.
The gel manicures offered by a lot of nail salons promise long-lasting manicures. But some of the compounds need a UV light to bond it to the nail. Obviously, with my history, UV light is a super bad thing for me. But even before my melanoma diagnosis, I hadn’t really ever wanted to get that UV light so near my hands since my hands started looking like a grandma’s a few years back. (Seriously, can someone take fat out of my stomach to plump up my hands again?)
There is a photo of what melanoma in a nail looks like in the story. Honestly, it does look somewhat like a bruise that you might get underneath a nail when you smack it hard against something. But bruises grow out. If you have a stripe on your nail that doesn’t seem to go away, go to a dermatologist and get it checked out. In my last visit with my doctor, I had a horizontal stripe in one of my toenails. The doctor spent quite a bit of time hunched over my toes with the magnifying glass. Because I have been walking so much, she decided that it was likely a bruise under the nail bed. But she also had her assistant note it in my file and told me that if it changes at all, to go back in immediately. (And naturally now that I’m relating this story, I realize that I have super dark polish on my toes right now so god only knows what the heck that nail actually looks like right now… I’m smart but apparently also not so bright.)