Nail Salon Alert

Pedicures and foot spas can be a wonderful experience if salons are properly cleaning and disinfecting their equipment, tools, implements, and foot spas. Washington state health officials encourage customers of nail salons to take common-sense precautions to avoid getting and spreading skin infections.

California health officials recently received complaints about a large outbreak of skin boils traced to a nail salon where foot spas had not been properly cleaned. The bacteria, introduced through the municipal tap water, flourished in foot spas, where it was fed by hair and skin debris that collected behind inlet suction screens.

Infections from pedicures and foot treatments are relatively rare. If foot spas are sanitized and disinfected in accordance with Washington State Cosmetology regulations, the risk of becoming infected is small. However, infections are most common in women who have shaved their legs before receiving pedicures and who receive an oil massage of their feet and calves after the footbath.

Often these skin infections start out looking like a spider bite. Boils sometimes become open wounds and may leave scars.

Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) hands out approved sanitizing and disinfection procedures when they inspect nail salons. Inspectors also ask the nail salons to demonstrate how they clean and disinfect the spas and filters when they are inspected. To comply with regulations, nail salons must sanitize and disinfect after each client. They must log the date and time of the cleaning and produce the log for inspection.

You have the right to know the dangers and the questions to ask to protect yourself from infection. Before a manicure or pedicure service, the DOL Cosmetology Program recommends that you take a few common sense precautions:

• Make sure the shop owner and the operator are currently licensed.
• Do not get a manicure, pedicure, or use the foot-spa bath if you have or suspect that you have a skin infection.
• Do not shave your legs before your appointment because shaving may result in nicks or cuts, which can be pathways for bacteria.
• Do not get a manicure, pedicure, or foot spa treatment if you have broken skin (cuts, nicks, or lesions).
• Take a look around the salon to determine if it is clean, free of trash, and set up with clean instruments and tools.
• Check to see that there is no standing water in the foot spa. If water is being drained from the foot spa when you arrive, ask the operator to clean and disinfect the spa before you use it.
• Ask the operator what the salon standard is for sanitizing and disinfection.
• Ask the operator when they last cleaned the chair. If it has not been cleaned since the last customer used it, ask the operator to clean it before you use it.
• Watch the operator to ensure that they use clean tools and instruments.
• Be sure the operator washes his or her hands between clients.

Do not put your hands or feet on or into an area that has not been sanitized and disinfected. And leave if you have any doubts about the cleanliness of the salon or the salon's adherence to sanitation and disinfection requirements.

The DOL inspects salons on a bi-annual basis or following a complaint. To inquire about whether a salon is licensed or if DOL has received any complaints about a salon, check the Washington DOL Web site or call 360-664-6645. To file a complaint, e-mail plssunit@dol.wa.gov or write to: