Global Courant
A now-defunct salon in New Mexico that provided so-called “vampire facials” to clients is now reportedly linked to several new HIV cases.
The New Mexico Department of Health is contacting former clients of VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who received “any type of injection-related service, including a vampire facial or Botox injections,” stating that there are is a risk of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection to clients who have received the injection-based service.
A “vampire facial,” according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, is a procedure in which blood is drawn from the arm, placed in a machine that “separates the platelets from the rest of your blood,” and then “re-injected into you (only the part of your blood that contains a high concentration of platelets).”
The procedure is also known as ‘platelet-rich plasma’.
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VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Google Maps)
According to the department, in 2023, the Bureau of Infectious Diseases received a report on a “newly diagnosed case of HIV whose only self-reported exposure to HIV risk was a vampire facial received in 2018 at VIP Spa in Albuquerque, NM.”
The health department subsequently reopened an investigation into the spa and identified “additional HIV infections directly or indirectly related to the services provided at the VIP Spa.”
The spa closed on September 7, 2018, after a multi-state agency found “practices that could potentially spread blood-borne infections, such as HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, to customers.”
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In June 2022, the spa’s owner, Maria Ramos De Ruiz, pleaded guilty to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, according to KRQE. (New Mexico Corrections Department)
In June 2022, the spa’s owner, Maria Ramos De Ruiz, pleaded guilty to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, according to KRQE.
Dr. Laura Parajon, deputy secretary of the health ministry, said in a Wednesday press release that people who have received the injection-based service should be tested.
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“It is very important that we spread the word and remind people who have received an injection related to services offered at the VIP Spa to test for free and confidentially,” Parajon said.
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @asabes10.
