Woman had ‘cool streak’ underneath nail for decade before chilling truth emerged
30.03.2022 - 20:35
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A woman who believed a streak that had been growing on her nail for years was something “cool” became horrified when she was told what it really was.
Maria Sylvia revealed she first noticed the dark brown mark ten years ago but didn't think anything of it, as she was “in and out of doctors all the time” due to being an athlete.
Maria was informed that the condition beneath her nail had “probably been cancerous for the last three years”.
Doctors told her it was subungual melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer that takes hold in the skin under your nails.
The TikToker - who has more than 15,000 followers - decided to share her unique health story, which has now been watched millions of times.
She said on her page @invrfoundwaldo : “No one really noticed it until one time a doctor did notice it. This was probably circa 2014, and they were like, ‘oh, that’s odd’. But you don’t really fit the demographics”.
Maria, from the US, was offered surgery in which doctors removed her nail and part of the bone.
She said: “Melanoma can sit in a stage called in situ, which is kind of like stage zero, for up to 13 years.
“So it’s very likely that this has just been sitting for 10 years and it’s been maybe cancerous for the last three, it’s kind of hard to tell.”
When she woke up she had a cast covering her entire hand and stopped her thumb from moving as it recovered.
Maria’s thumb was given a skin graft, with doctors taking flesh from her arm. She’s now waiting to see what the final result will look like.
He video, which has reached 14 million people, has left viewers worried about their own similar streaks.
Medical advice warns that you should go and see a doctor if you see a change in size, colour, or shape of the nails.
If your nail