‘Almost ended me’: Dallas woman tries new nail salon. Now she has a double pulmonary embolism, deep-vein thrombosis, and a ruptured Achilles. What went wrong?

A Dallas woman had a nail salon trip turn into a horror story. That is because she now has a double pulmonary embolism, deep-vein thrombosis in her calf, and a ruptured Achilles tendon, all due to the removal of one acrylic nail while going to a new salon downtown.

An initial video that Candice Concepcion (@candiceconcepcion) posted referencing the difficult medical journey she endured due to the nail salon generated 1.6 million views. Viewers asked her for a storytime, saying, “Girl!! What happened ??” Concepcion replied, “Girl, so much.”

She has posted her experience to TikTok in two different parts, each generating more than 700,000 views, documenting the entire medical saga. So what happened?

A trip to a new salon ends with a little pain

Concepcion, a full-time medical aesthetics clinic manager and mother of three children, moved to the Dallas area about five years ago from New York City. The entire time she has lived in Dallas, she has gone to the same salon. But for her 33rd birthday, she made the decision to try out a new place in downtown Dallas that some of her co-workers liked.

Concepcion already had an acrylic set, so she only went in for a fill. One of her fingernails, however, was loose. The nail technician noticed it and let her know that she would remove it and do a new nail for her.

As she removed the nail, Concepcion felt a sharp pain. The technician accidentally ripped open her nail “right on the nail bed.” Concepcion said the pain was noticeable, especially considering the fact that she has a high pain tolerance already.

“I’m not one that like complains or anything like that. I mean, I birthed two of my three babies completely natural, I’ve been an athlete, collegiately everything. So little things don’t usually bother me,” Concepcion said.

Concepcion goes to the bar, only to notice something was off

The next day, Concepcion and her husband had a date night at a local bar. Then she noticed that her finger was hurting.

“By the end of the night, this particular finger, the only one that she had put a new nail on and had… a cutting incident, was hurting a little bit,” Concepcion said. She noticed the pain a few times every hour.

The next day, Concepcion went to work and noticed that the pain had increased. She tried soaking her finger in alcohol, but it continued to feel painful. The next day, she tried another solution, only to still feel some lingering pain.

Finally, after complaining about the nail throughout the week to co-workers and her family, friends urged Concepcion to go back to the salon. There, she requested that they take the nail off for her.

“The nail technician got someone to drill the nail off,” Concepcion told her viewers. “[Then], I notice that there’s like a weird situation going on under there.”

Concepcion saw yellow pus leaking from her nail bed. Her skin was raised and inflamed as well, which concerned her. She asked the nail technicians whether she should go to the doctor, and they remained “vague,” refusing to tell her anything.

Concepcion sees a doctor

The clinic manager decided to visit a PA after her visit to the nail salon. Once she got into office, her PA let her know that the nail was deeply infected and that it was because of the salon.

“[The] PA listened to my situation and looked at my finger, she immediately was like, ‘this is a bacterial infection, not a fungal infection, a bacterial infection, which is from dirty nail equipment at the nail salon,’” Concepcion told her viewers.

The PA lanced her finger and drained it. Then she provided Concepcion with an oral and topical antibiotic that she would need to use for some time. Before she left, Concepcion decided to ask if there were any adverse side effects to the antibiotics.

Concepcion went back to the nail salon and let them know she got a bacterial infection from their practices. She asked for a refund, but she did not receive one. The salon quickly deflected blame, saying they were not responsible for the issue.

“[The salon manager] was like, ‘we don’t do refunds… The only thing we could do is offer you 30% off your next appointment.’ And I was like, she must think I am boo boo the fool, because why would I come here ever again when I just got this terrible bacterial infection from your salon?” Concepcion asked.

From there, Concepcion took her antibiotic regimen, getting through four out of five of her doses. She forgot the last dose because she was going out of town to see family in Los Angeles. Little did she know that more problems would occur there.

@candiceconcepcion in my feels tonight #fyp #recovery #storytime ♬ original sound – certainlybee

Concepcion takes a family trip, only for her Achilles to burst 

Concepcion arrived in Los Angeles and spent some time with her family. While there, she and her sister’s young children played soccer. Concepcion decided to join in but felt a sharp pain alongside a painful pop. She almost immediately realized that her Achilles tendon had torn and essentially “burst.”

She immediately went to urgent care, which recommended that she see an orthopedic surgeon as soon as possible. Her foot ended up swelling so badly that it got stuck in a soccer cleat. She had to use a wheelchair in the airport due to the injury when she returned to Texas.

Scheduling surgery and the aftermath

Concepcion scheduled orthopedic surgery as soon as she was back in her home state, as her Achilles tendon had completely “burst” due to her injury. She was unable to work for weeks while her injury healed, ultimately hurting her base income.

Despite still feeling the effects of her injury, she started to go back into her office. One day, while driving, she felt unusually lethargic. Her breathing was heavy. Every movement seemed to make her tired. She worked a full day in the office despite feeling incredibly weak, something that was noticeably off for her. The next day, she had a terrible headache with spots in her vision. After that point, she decided to go to the ER.

After running some tests and keeping her there, they let her know that she had a double pulmonary embolism, which means she had blood clots in both of her lungs. The hospital immediately admitted her because they were worried about the possibility of heart failure.

They kept Concepcion in the hospital for five days on close watch. She had a heparin drip, which prevented her from taking showers. She got her blood drawn every five to six hours to ensure her vitals were stable.

The consequences of a simple bacterial infection have been severe for Concepcion and her family. Concepcion will remain on blood thinners for the rest of her life, with her monthly blood thinner medication costing $700 after insurance. Concepcion also had to undergo physical therapy to learn how to walk again.

“It just makes me feel crazy to think that like all this has happened just because of a trip to a nail salon and a nail salon being negligent and not cleaning their tools. They have no idea, right that any of this is going on. That I literally could have died and my story is just one of many,” Concepcion said.

The Mary Sue has reached out to Concepcion via email for more information.

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