Man With The World's Longest Fingernails Cuts Them Off After 66 Years

Enlarge this image toggle caption Ripley's Believe It or Not® Ripley's Believe It or Not®

The man with the world's longest fingernails has finally cut them off.

Shridhar Chillal of Pune, India, started to let the fingernails on his left hand grow when he was 14 "after being told off by a teacher for accidentally breaking his long nail," according to Guinness World Records.

He's now 82. And he holds the record for the longest fingernails on a single hand.

Chillal flew to the U.S. and had his nails cut off using a small circular saw at a ceremony Wednesday in New York. The Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in Times Square has put them on display.

Just how long are the nails, exactly? The longest one is the thumbnail, which Guinness says clocks in at at 197.8 centimeters — or just about 6 1/2 feet long. "When last measured, his nails had a combined length of 909.6 cm (29 ft 10.1 in), about the same length as a London bus," according to Guinness.

Chillal's "unusual choice" to grow his nails out this long didn't stop him from leading a normal life, the Ripley's museum says. He married, had two children and worked professionally as a photographer.

But the decision to grow his nails so long did take a toll — Chillal cannot open his left hand from a closed position or flex his fingers, the museum says.

The museum has interviews with Chillal and some of his family on its website.