We have heard about fish pedicures, and let’s all agree on one thing, they are pretty gross and are something that you do not to do.
As experts all over the world have warned that this type of treatment could spread deadly disease, a woman did not get this memo.
Victoria Curthoys, a woman, had all of her toes on one of her feet amputated after getting the pedicure treatment on holiday in Thailand.
She did not contract HIV or Hepatitis C, which are the 2 diseases that are listed in health warnings for people that want to get this treatment.
Instead, she got a waterborne disease that led to her having 5 of her toes on one foot getting removed.
Everything started when 29-year-old Victoria, who is from Australia, contracted a bone infection in her big toe after treading on the glass.
It resulted in doctors amputating half of her toe to kill the infection.
In 2010, Victoria traveled to Thailand for a holiday where she decided to enjoy one of the area’s popular fish spa treatments to remove the dead skin that was present on her feet.
Little did the woman know that the tank that she was using had a waterborne disease that is only found in Thailand.
After going through that, she got wounds and had a fever along with sickness.
Talking about what happened, Victoria said:
When I was in Thailand I decided to use a fish spa. I thought nothing of it as I’d watched the owner set up the system and it looked very clean, but how wrong I was. I ended up getting another bone infection in my big toe and it took doctors over a year to figure out what type of bug I had. By the time they’d realised what it was, my entire toe bone had been eaten away and I’d been suffering from sickness the whole time.
She went back to Australia and fast forward to 2012, doctors that were treating her had no choice but to amputate her big toe.
During an interview about her condition and what had happened, Victoria said:
A year of walking without a big toe caused ulcers on the second toe from the pressure placed on it. It had a rough callus over the top, but I was unaware that underneath that there was another raging infection. This time, the doctors took the second toe and left me with three toes. I was healthy for another two years, I thought I was very lucky to still have my foot and carried on with my life. But then I started to get sick again. Every morning I would be vomiting and constantly had a fever, but X-rays weren’t showing any signs of infections, so the doctors fobbed it off for a long time and they told me it was all in my head. It wasn’t until my podiatrist ordered blood samples that they realised that I did in fact have another bone infection and I had a very high white blood cell count. This was why I was feeling so terrible. In November 2016 my doctors took the third and fourth toes, but for some reason they left the small toe. Because the little toe was the only one left, I kept knocking it and when I walked, and all the pressure would go onto the little toe. Last year I noticed my small toe wasn’t looking very happy and there was some liquid on my sock, but I couldn’t see any cuts. After a few blood samples and more X-rays, they discovered another bone infection, so they finally took the last toe in November 2017.
Despite losing her toes, she is relieved that she doesn’t have the infection anymore.
Not only that, but she is also using her story as a way to warn other people that are planning to use fish spas, telling social media users and people in real life about the consequences that they might get to face in case they catch a deadly disease during the treatment.
Victoria said:
I can honestly say that my foot has never been as healthy as it is now. Now I can put pressure on my foot. My parents are proud of me and my friends think I’m awesome because I’ve been through a lot, but at the end of the day I’ve seen people with far worse injuries and life-altering illnesses, so I consider myself lucky. I also warn people about the dangers of fish spas by discouraging them from using one if I can because we have no idea who those fish have bitten previously. By taking photos of my feet and posting them on Instagram I hope to build more confidence in myself and to have a positive impact on others who might not be happy with how their foot or leg looks after amputation.
Fish pedicure spa treatment does not work as humans do. As a result of this treatment, you may get unsatisfactory results, which can leave you with bumpy, uneven skin, and areas that are bitten deep enough to cause bleeding.
If you want to get good results after removing your dead skin, you want to use a pumice stone. It’s better and more affordable.