A terrified gran was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria after visiting a nail salon.
Jayne Sharp had a manicure at Jazzy Nail Bar near Knoxville, Tennessee, but after coming home, found her thumb was throbbing.
It soon became an agonising pain and Jayne was encouraged to taker herself to A&E.
Worried medics there feared the retired dental hygienist was going to lose her arm as it had become badly infected.
The mum had reportedly contracted necrotising fasciitis, a severe infection that affects the skin.
"She could have lost her finger or her arm if she hadn’t been diagnosed properly," Dr Udit Chaudhuri, who treated Jayne, said.
"She is a diabetic so that made her more susceptible.
"Basically you have a break in the skin and this bacteria gets introduced under the skin into the soft tissue and then into the blood stream."
Jayne said: "[The doctor told my daughter] your mother could lose her life with what we think this is and there’s a likelihood she will lose her arm.
"My life took a total turn. I couldn't even floss my own teeth.
"I had never heard of such a thing when they told me flesh-eating bacteria."
The grandmother has undergone several operations since her diagnosis.
But First Coast News says the manager of the nail bar stressed it had passed a state inspection days after Jayne's appointment.
A spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance said no problems were found at the salon during its annual inspection and a follow-up inspection after Jayne's complaint.
Necrotizing fasciitis is extremely rare, affecting less than 20,000 people in the US alone each year.
Those with compromised immune systems are more likely to contract it.
