Manicure gone wrong leaves Perth woman in hospital

A Perth woman has been told she could lose a thumb after contracting a terrifying bacterial infection from a manicure.

Sue, 48, has lived with a searing pain in her thumb for the last two years after contracting a staph infection while getting a manicure at a Perth beauty salon.

She claims the technician mistook her bare nails for acrylics and started grinding them down with a tool before soaking them in acetone.

'I did tell them they were my actual nails, but they kept grinding them still,' she told Nine News.

The 48-year-old later spent five days in hospital after discovering that a chunk of her thumb bone would need to be removed.

She says she continues to live with a persistent throbbing and searing pain in her thumb.

'It really throbs and you can't get away from it,' she told Nine News.

Now she's decided to take legal action against the nail salon for failing to meet 'hygiene standards'.

'You wouldn't go into a dirty dentist, so why would you go into a dirty nail bar?' she said.