Watchdog: Despite rules, Texas nail salons still violating sanitation regulations

Before you sit back and relax with that pedicure, make sure it’s safe to put your feet in the water.

For years, scores of news stories have circulated about antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to skin infections that cause slow-to-heal, oozing boils on feet and legs — and even death in a few cases.

About four years ago, a lengthy outbreak of pedicure-related skin infections in California caused the state to tighten its sanitation regulations for salons.

Much closer to home, Kimberly Kay Jackson, a 46-year-old Fort Worth woman, died in April 2006 after battling an antibiotic-resistant staph infection that her family believed that she contracted when a manicurist cut her heel with pumice stone during a pedicure. Johnson is believed to be the first person to die from a pedicure-related infection.

A few months later, Jessica Mears, 42, of California died after fighting a mycobacterial infection on her leg that never healed.

As recently as two months ago, South Carolina issued a safety advisory to salons after two cases of mycobacteria skin infections were confirmed, both related to pedicures.

But even with the horror stories of skin infections and the chance that a state inspector could pop in unannounced at any time, some salons still don’t follow the rules.

This year, the state has taken action against 33 salons in Tarrant County for such violations as not properly cleaning implements used for pedicures, not using approved sterilizers, not properly sanitizing footbaths, not maintaining cleaning logs or for using illegal razor-type callus shavers that pose health risks, according to the Web site of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which has regulated salons since 2005.

That includes salons in Arlington, Bedford, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Haltom City, Mansfield, North Richland Hills and Southlake. On average, about five salons per month violated the department’s sanitation rules over the past seven months. Fines levied against salons for the violations reported this year ranged from $750 to $6,750, depending on the seriousness of the violation, according to the listing of final orders on the Web site.

If you want to check out your particular salon, go to www.license.state.tx.us and click on "Violations by License Type." Once there, choose "cosmetology" under license type and fill out what information you have, such as the shop owner’s name or city or county, in the automated form. If your shop has been cited, you should find information.

According to the licensing department, foot spas must be disinfected nightly. The state’s Administrative Code 83.108 states that at the end of each day, each whirlpool foot spa must be cleaned and disinfected by removing the screen and all the debris behind it. It also includes removing and washing the screen and inlet with chlorine bleach and water or a disinfectant registered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Every two weeks, the foot spas must be filled with the disinfectant and allowed to sit for six to 10 hours. The state licensing agency also requires that salons maintain a log of daily and bi-weekly cleanings of the foot spas.

Overall, the majority of nail salons are in compliance with the state’s sanitation regulations, spokeswoman Susan Stanford said.

And a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services said no pedicure-related infections have been reported this year, as far as he could determine.

But customers shouldn’t be bashful about asking to see the foot spa cleaning logs to make sure that their salon is taking proper steps to keep footbaths clean, Stanford said. Educating customers about what to look for is key to stopping pedicure-related skin infections.

"It’s the customer’s right to go in and see their foot spa [cleaning] log," she said. "In my opinion, people [at the salons] should be happy that you ask. They should be up-to-date with the logs."

She also recommended making sure that there’s a valid operating license on the wall and surveying the cleanliness of the salon in general.

If a foot spa isn’t cleaned following the state’s guidelines, debris composed of dead skin, nail bits and "other matter" lodges behind re-circulation screens of foot spa tubs. It’s the perfect spot for microbes such as staph and mycobacteria, which feed and multiply amid the debris. If patrons have nicks or cuts on their legs, it’s all the better for those microbes, which use them as gateways into the body.

Yep. It’s off the charts for the "ick factor." And it should make even the most determined, sandal-clad fashionista reconsider that pedi without first checking that the salon is in good sanitary standing. Ask questions and observe. If you don’t like what you see, use those feet for what they do best: Walk away.