Former clients of a medical spa in New Mexico have been urged to to get tested for blood-borne infections after another case of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, was linked to a vampire facial treatment offered at the now-shuttered business.
The VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque was forced to close its doors in September 2018 after at least two clients tested positive for HIV following the facials, in which a patient’s blood is drawn and then components of the blood — specifically the platelet-rich plasma — are injected back into the face using microneedles.
In March, another former customer tested positive for the virus, according to a news release from the New Mexico Department of Health. Their only self-reported risk exposure was getting a “vampire facial” at the spa before it shut down.
To date, a total of five HIV infections have been identified among people “with direct or indirect connection with services provided at the VIP Spa,” a department spokesperson told NBC News.
The most recent case prompted the department to reopen its past investigation into the business. Officials previously “identified practices that could potentially spread blood-borne infections, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to clients,” the department said.
If done correctly, the vampire facial itself is safe, explained the Cellular Medicine Association in a 2018 statement on its official Vampire Facial website. But, if done improperly, “people can be killed by cross-contamination.”
More than 100 former clients were tested in 2018 and 2019 as part of the initial investigation, but health officials are encouraging anyone who “received any kind of injection-related services provided at the VIP Spa” to be retested, even if they initially tested negative.
“The providers in New Mexico under investigation were impostors who were not licensed to use our name ‘Vampire Facial,’” the CMA added. “They were never properly trained, and were never on our list of certified providers.”
In June 2022, the owner of the spa pleaded guilty to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license. In early October, she was handed a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
