At least three women were infected with HIV during a procedure known as a "vampire facial" at an unlicensed spa in New Mexico in the first cases of the virus being transmitted during a cosmetic injection, according to reports.
The findings were announced in a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the first case a female client of the spa was evaluated in 2018 after testing positive for HIV.
The woman, between 40 and 50 years old, said she hadn't injected drugs, did not have any recent blood transfusions and had no sexual contact other than with her current sexual partner.
But she did note that she had received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) microneedling procedure earlier at a spa in New Mexico.
A "vampire facial" involves "drawing a client's blood, separating the blood into its components of plasma and cells, and using single-use disposable or multiuse sterile equipment to inject the PRP into the face for cosmetic purposes," the CDC said.
The procedure is used to rejuvenate skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and acne scars.
Two other women who received facials at the spa also later contracted HIV.
The spa, identified as the VIP Spa in Albuquerque, was shut down in the fall of 2018 after it was discovered it was lacking proper licenses and inspections found unsafe infection control practices, the Washington Post reported.
The former owner, Maria de Lourdes Ramos De Ruiz, 62, is serving a 3½-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to five counts of practicing medicine without a license, the newspaper reported.
