A $1.75 million lawsuit claims a customer contracted the genital herpes virus while getting a manicure at a Portland salon that had poor hygiene practices.
The suit, filed last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court, states that the 23-year-old Portland woman went to the PDX Nails salon near Northeast 122nd and Glisan Street to get an acrylic nails manicure in June 2023. The suit states that the nail technician didn’t wear gloves and stored drill bits used as part of the manicure in an Altoids tin.
All according to the suit: After the manicure, the woman noticed some inflammation and swelling around two of her fingers and began to feel ill. Four days out, painful blisters had formed around one of her fingers and she sought help at a Kaiser Permanente urgent care clinic, where medical staff swabbed the blisters. The results came back positive for an infection – herpetic whitlow – which is caused by the herpes simplex virus 2, also known as the genital herpes virus.
The suit states that the woman didn’t have herpes before her manicure. Since her first infection, the virus has flared up multiple times, despite her use of antiviral medication, the suit states.
The suit lists the salon and Tam Nguyen and Hai Nguyen as defendants. Tam Nguyen, who is listed in state records as a manager, declined to comment. A message for Hai Nguyen, who is listed as the owner, wasn’t returned.
Documented instances of herpes transferred through manicures are rare, but some cases have emerged in courts across the country. In 2002, a jury awarded a Colorado woman $3.1 million after finding she contracted herpes from a manicure using non-sterile instruments.
Lawsuits faulting others for spreading herpes through sexual intercourse also have succeeded. In 2012, a Multnomah County jury awarded a Portland woman $900,000 after she contracted herpes from her date, who had sex with her without informing her of his status.
Last week’s lawsuit notes that the defendant, PDX Nails, operates two Portland locations. The second location, also run by Tam Nguyen, had been fined $500 by Oregon’s Health Licensing Office and Board of Cosmetology in 2021 for “failing to disinfect used tools” that “come in direct contact (with) a client” and that an inspector found “used drilling bits on the workstation.” The location also was fined another $500 for failing to properly clean foot spa equipment.
Those violations and others founded against nail salons, however, aren’t viewable by the public online. The Oregonian/OregonLive received copies through a public record request.
The lawsuit’s plaintiff is identified only by the letters “S.R.” She told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she was shocked to find out the source of what has now turned out to be multiple outbreaks. She thought the genital herpes virus was only a sexually transmitted disease.
When those flare-ups do occur, she said she has to frequently wash her hands, avoid handshakes and keep her affected finger or fingers covered with Band-Aids because the virus is contagious. Those bandages, at times, have prompted questions.
“People have asked ‘What happened to your finger?” she said. “I don’t want to tell them what it really is because it’s really embarrassing.”
Because there is no cure, she said she also will need to continue to be cautious around her future children, if she has them.
S.R. said she had been getting manicures since she was a girl of about 8 or 9 years old, when she would accompany her mom to salons. Through the years, she had often associated them with fun, such as an activity she’d take part in during birthday parties or girls’ nights out. Her view has since changed.
“The flare-ups can be super, super painful,” she said. “It’s always on my mind.”
The suit was filed by Portland attorney Amity Girt.
