2 Investigators: Rogue Nail Salons Injuring Customers

(CBS) -- Before you get a "mani-pedi" in Illinois, there's something you need to know about the salon or the technicians who work there.

CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman discovers big problems.

Of 100 nail salons CBS 2 checked out,  54 of them did not have state licenses.

"That's really scary," says nail-salon customer Laura Curry.

So was her manicure at another unlicensed salon in Willowbrook.

The nail tech there "cut my cuticles probably three times. It was bleeding throughout the manicure," she says.

A camera shy customer at another unlicensed salon repeated her Yelp complaint about four bleeding cuticles.

Salon owner Jun Bae Kim was fined and reprimanded for being unable to provide licenses for his salons or technicians, when he operated previous businesses. When CBS 2 returned to his current salon, the technician licenses were on the wall. The state license wasn't.

"Right now we have registered," Kim said.

Even those nail salons that are licensed don't get routinely inspected by the state before or after they open unless a complaint is filed.

"It's a big problem," says state Sen. Iris Martinez, D-Chicago.

She chairs a committee that oversees salon rule-making and says inspections should occur, regardless of whether there has been a complaint.

Earl Everson didn't know where to file one after a pedicure at a licensed South Elgin salon  that he says caused an infection requiring surgery.

"It was mind boggling. They had to go below the nail to remove the infection," he says.

A Sauk Village salon allegedly contributed to Darryl Carr's death. A lawsuit charges it used unsafe solutions and excessive heat causing burns that got infected and led to other complications.

Owner Wen Hua Cong denies it and blames Carr for failing to get proper medical care. He said the pedicure was fine.

Records show the state has disciplined other salons for not having licenses, unsanitary conditions, and cutting clients.

"This is a public safety health issue that we have to start looking at," Martinez says.

A state spokesman says all complaints are taken very seriously and as a result of this CBS 2 investigation they sent notices to 54 salons to get licensed.  With just four inspectors to cover nearly 7,000 salons, it's up to customers to report any complaints.