Student develops skin cancer from biting her nails

AUSTRALIA — A woman in Australia had to have her thumb amputated because of her habit of biting her nails gave her skin cancer, The Sun reports.

Courtney Whithorn, 20, said she developed the bad habit of biting her nails when she was bullied in high school.

She said after awhile her thumb nail started to turn black.

She decided to hide it from her family and friends, and also used fake nails to hide the condition.

Whithorn said she finally decided to visit the doctor, which is when she was diagnosed with acral lentiginous subungual melanoma. It was a malignant melanoma that is a rare form of skin cancer.

Whithorn has undergone four surgeries to treat the cancer, with the most recent one resulting in the amputation of her thumb.

So if you have a nail-biting habit, you might want to quit now before it's too late.