The scorpions that get applied to clients’ nails still have their stingers intact. In the wild, scorpions use these tail-like body parts to deliver a painful dose of venom to predators or to immobilize prey. As soon as the arachnids die, though, the toxins in their venom start to break down. That makes the risk of getting poisoned by the scorpions used in nail art fairly low, says Lauren Esposito, a scorpion expert at the California Academy of Sciences.
The sting from a live Durango bark scorpion isn’t just uncomfortable—it’s life-threatening. The scorpion’s sting can kill an adult human in 15 minutes. García has survived being stung three separate times. Luckily, if a person gets stung, there’s an antivenom—a medicine that counteracts a specific venom. “As long as you get to a hospital quickly, you should be OK,” says Esposito.