Salon Fined $4,000 - Customer Developed Skin Infection after Pedicure

AUSTIN, December 5, 2006 – An Allen nail salon operator agreed to pay a $4,000 fine and also agreed to an enhanced inspection schedule and additional sanitation training for himself and his employees for sanitation violations in the salon that resulted in a customer developing a skin infection.

In addition to the fine, Tommy Nguyen, owner of Angel Nails, 1719 Angel Parkway No. 200 in Allen, agreed to undergo four unannounced inspections at his salon by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) during the next year and agreed to pay for the lab analyses of any specimens collected by TDLR inspectors. Salons normally are inspected once every two years with the state bearing the cost of lab analysis.

Inspectors from TDLR and the Texas Cosmetology Commission, a predecessor agency, responding to a complaint, collected cultures from whirlpool tubs, whirlpool jets and drains at Angel Nails on July 5, 2005 and November 22, 2005. Analyses of those samples showed the presence of harmful bacteria. Some of the bacteria in the cultures were matched by Collin County authorities to cultures taken from a customer of the salon who had developed a skin infection, indicating the salon was the source of the infection.

Had the salon followed prescribed sanitation procedures the bacteria would not have developed.

“This is a situation that could easily have been avoided had Angel Nails followed proper sanitation procedures,” said William Kuntz, TDLR’s executive director. “At TDLR we take sanitation concerns and consumer safety very seriously. As this order shows, we will respond decisively to licensees that adopt a cavalier attitude toward sanitation, and endanger the health and welfare of their customers.”

In addition to the enhanced inspection schedule, Nguyen also agreed to complete a four-hour course of instruction in health safety and sanitation procedures delivered by an educational provider approved by TDLR. He also agreed to require all of his current employees, as well as any employees hired during the next year, to complete the sanitation training.

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