Britons seeking a more youthful complexion are being warned not to use unregulated beauty clinics for so-called “vampire facials” due to the risk of contracting HIV.
The treatment, also known as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, involves injecting the patient with samples of their own blood that have been placed in a centrifuge to filter out the protein-rich plasma that, according to beauticians, can make the skin look younger.
Kim Kardashian, her sister Kourtney and Ferne McCann are among those undergoing the treatments, but warnings have been issued after at least three women who also received them at a spa in the United States contracted HIV.
An investigation by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) concluded that the women likely contracted the virus due to “poor infection control practices” at the New Mexico spa they attended.
They may have contracted the disease by reusing unsterilized equipment, such as needles or vials used to store blood.
Kim Kardashian underwent a ‘vampire facial’, also known as a platelet-rich plasma injection, in 2012, but later said she would not do it again.
Kim’s sister Kourtney also underwent the treatment, which involves injecting the patient’s face with their own filtered blood plasma.
The VIP salon and spa in Albuquerque (pictured in April 2017) offered “vampire facials” and was closed in 2018 after two HIV cases were linked. In 2023, three more cases were identified among previous clients.
VIP Spa owner Maria Ramos de Ruiz, 62, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to five felonies for practicing medicine without a license.
Unlike other parts of the world, the UK has no regulations on who can administer beauty treatments such as fillers, Botox and microneedling treatments such as PRP injection.
Beauticians are typically trained with university-level qualifications such as NVQs, but they do not need to be registered.
Campaigners for regulation of the beauty treatment industry have warned that Britons seeking cut-price deals to improve their appearance from so-called “backstreet” professionals could be putting themselves at risk.
Patient safety advocate Dawn Knight told MailOnline that the safety concerns raised by the CDC about the New Mexico spa were “across the UK”.
“I’ve heard of sharing needles, of not throwing away partially used fillers for second use, of dogs wandering around the facility – all unsafe and unsanitary practices,” she said.
‘Today in the United Kingdom anyone can practice aesthetics without training, without any qualifications. If you are not a health professional, in this country you are not even required to have insurance for these treatments.
‘These people don’t understand the kind of damage they can cause. There is no responsibility.”
The UK is slowly stepping up its efforts to regulate non-surgical cosmetic treatments after previous scares.
In 2017, Public Health England said it became aware that three employees at a beauty salon in the northwest were injured while “using the same needle microdermabrasion device.” All three had to be tested for viruses, but fortunately they tested negative.
The UK Government is currently mulling over how to impose a national licensing system for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England after the power to create one was added to the Health and Care Act in 2022.
Scotland and Wales have previously consulted on imposing similar schemes under devolved powers.
But Knight added that work on the scheme was “glacially slow” and would take years after its imposition to have a proper effect, while people continue to be bombarded with ads on social media for cut-price cosmetic procedures.
“The influence of social media and the ads that people are fed, because you can even do these treatments on (buy now, pay later) Klarna… there are no checks and balances whatsoever,” he added. .
Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, a government-approved register of beauty treatment providers, has warned that people could unknowingly fall victim to “cowboy” professionals who cut costs and corners by, for example, reusing equipment.
“We have thousands of these practitioners operating in the UK, often working from their own homes without inspection,” he said in statements reported by The times.
“So the risk to the public in terms of spreading blood-borne viruses or infections from sharing needles and unsterilized environments is really very, very high.”
PRP is a form of microneedle treatment in which blood is drawn from recipients and put into a centrifuge that separates platelet-rich plasma that can stimulate the skin’s natural healing processes.
The PRP is then injected directly into the face using small needle injections into the face. Cosmetic professionals say the protein-rich extracts help fade wrinkles and acne scars, giving those receiving the treatment a more youthful appearance.
Ferne McCann also underwent a vampire facial, performed in 2016 to rejuvenate her face.
Israeli model Bar Refaeli after getting a vampire facial. He underwent the procedure in 2013.
Kim Kardashian is among those who underwent the treatment in 2012, but later said on her now-defunct personal blog that she will never receive it again, because she had to undergo it without painkillers because she was pregnant.
“It was really hard and painful for me. Honestly, it was the most painful thing ever! It’s the only treatment I’ll never do again,” she said.
‘Although it wasn’t for me, I know it has many benefits for your skin. Kourtney is a big fan and I know a lot of other people who love her too.”
But at least three women who used VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to receive the age-defying treatment came out with HIV, the CDC concluded in a new report.
The first woman tested positive for HIV in the summer of 2018 after getting a vampire facial. She had no history of injection drug use, recent blood transfusions, or recent sexual contact with someone with HIV.
The second and third women also received vampire facials in 2018. One was diagnosed with the earliest stage of HIV in 2019 and the other in 2023, when she was taken to hospital with severe symptoms.
A separate woman and man also tested positive for HIV. The woman received a vampire facial at the spa, while the man contracted the infection by having sex with her. She never received any services from the spa.
The owner of the New Mexico spa, María de Lourdes Ramos De Ruiz, 62, is serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Last Last year, the NHS launched a campaign to encourage people to get tested for hepatitis C amid concerns that tens of thousands of people are unintentionally living with the disease after contracting it through unsafe beauty equipment. sterilized.