A grandmother had to have part of her finger amputated after a nail technician slipped and jabbed her during an appointment.
Jose Jackson was warned by doctors that she could have lost her arm after she contracted a staph infection following a visit to the salon in December 2017.
At first the 57-year-old had thought it was just a scratch, until her digit turned 'purple' and started 'weeping' puss.
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It turned out that she had caught an infection caused by the bacteria staphylococcus which, if caught early, can be treated with antibiotics. However, due to how far it had progressed, doctors told Jose they had no option but to amputate her index finger just below the nail.
The pub manager said: "When I got to hospital, they bought medical students in because they'd never seen an infection so bad.
"I wanted to treat myself to a manicure so I felt nice, but it ended up ruining my life and costing me a finger.
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"The top of my finger looked like a jagged mountain range at first. The infection had literally eaten away at my finger and my bone."
During her appointment, the nail technician accidentally slipped while using a cuticle pusher tool which, later turned out to be dirty, and 'jabbed' Jose's nail bed.
But not wanting to make a fuss or look silly with just one hand done, she got the set finished.
Over the next week, Jose noticed her finger starting to 'swell' and turn 'purple'. And despite her GP giving her some antibiotics, things got worse.
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Jose said: "I was told they would start to kick in around five days later, but I was still in agony.
"Unfortunately, I now know it was the wrong medication to treat the infection, but by that point it was too late."
After returning to her GP for an x-ray, she was told to get to the hospital straight away.
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She said: "I couldn't bring myself to look when they examined it.
"The surgeon said, 'I don't know how you've gone for two weeks with this'.
"It was painful but I didn't realise how bad things were until the x-ray came back.
"The infection had literally eaten away at my finger and my bone."
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Following the initial surgery, doctors returned and broke the news that more of the finger needed to be taken or she risked losing her entire arm.
Jose said: "I just told him to cut off whatever he needed to.
"He said I was incredibly brave, but I just wanted to save as much as I could."
It was only found during a health inspection that the tools the technician used had not been cleaned properly between customers.
Jose contacted a solicitor who helped her seek compensation. She won an out of court settlement and received a five figure payout.
The gran has spoken out about her ordeal so that it doesn't happen to someone else.
She added: "I ended up winning compensation but it doesn't feel like a win, it doesn't bring my finger back.
"I've learnt to adjust and even learnt to joke about - I say I'm giving a 'high four' instead of a 'high five' now.
"But it's still a devastating thing to go through.
"I'd love to get hygiene ratings into nail bars, similar to the ones they have in restaurants.
"That way people can be aware and no one has to go through what I did."
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