China boy, 4, loses finger after father chooses massage parlour to treat infection - South China Morning Post

[Fran Lu]

A four-year-old boy in China had to have his finger amputated after his father took him to a foot massage parlour to treat a fungal infection in his nail.



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The boy, surnamed Lin, was taken by his father to the Luozhendong Foot Massage Parlour in southwestern China’s Chongqing municipality to treat an infection in his left index fingernail in July last year, China Consumer News reported on September 26.

The shop claimed that it had a medicine called “nail removing cream”, which they said could work wonders for the boy’s problem.

They applied the cream on the boy’s infected fingernail and bound it up with elastic bandage. The treatment cost 600 yuan (US$86).

Two days later, the father found his son’s finger had atrophied and turned black. He rushed him to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed gangrene.

Police and other authorities investigated the foot massge centre and found it to be operating without a licence. Photo: Weibo

The doctor said Lin’s left index fingertip had to be amputated to avoid further infections.