Virginia Woman Shocked To Find Pigmented Line On Her Fingernail Was Cancer

A Virginia woman is warning people after finding out that a pigmented line on her fingernail was actually a rare form of cancer.

Maria Sylvia, 25, took to her TikTok to raise awareness about the condition, which is called subungual melanoma, a rare form of skin cancer that occurs beneath the nails. Sylvia said she initially thought the thin vertical line to be a mole, but her friends insisted she visit a doctor. The doctor then confirmed the line was cancerous, Wales Online reported.

In the video posted in late March, Sylvia explained the pigments of the "cool streak" had grown thicker over the years from the initial pale and soft-bordered line when she first discovered it almost a decade ago in 2012.

"Me: Having this for 10 years, thinking it was a cool streak in my nail," Sylvia captioned the video. "It's cancer." "I was in and out of doctors all the time. I was an athlete, so I was like getting physicals every year," she said in one of the clips of the string of videos she posted on TikTok.

"No one really noticed it until one time a doctor did notice it. This was probably circa 2014, and they were like, 'oh, that’s odd.' But you don’t really fit the demographics. So if it just grows any bigger, you know, go and see a doctor," Sylvia continued.

"So, of course, by then, I am pretty sure that it already grew to its fullest extent. I didn’t really have any issue, I didn't have any pain with it, so I just figured it was a mole because that’s what they told me, that it was most likely a mole in my nail bed," she said.

Following the biopsy, Maria had to get her nail bed and top of her thumb removed.

The video has since been seen more than 19 million times in just two weeks, with people frantically checking their nails for a similar mark.

Melanoma is usually caused by excessive sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation. Subungual melanoma, which occurs under the nails is often difficult to identify because it appears like a normal bruising. While the condition typically affects women in their 60s and men in their 70s, it can spread to other parts of the body and, in some cases, prove fatal. Thankfully, Sylvia was told after the biopsy that her melanoma was in stage 0, also known as being in situ, and hadn't spread elsewhere, Wales Online reported.