A new study on women who got HIV after getting a “vampire facial” has made people wonder if certain cosmetic procedures are really safe.A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report from 2018 stated that at least three women contracted the infection at a spa in New Mexico. The report also stated that the instances provided insight into novel ways the sickness can spread.
These are thought to be the first recorded cases of HIV transmission linked to cosmetic procedures in the United States. However, what is a “vampire facial” really, and how did the women get HIV from it? And what steps may individuals take to protect themselves against infection when undergoing cosmetic procedures? Here’s a summary of what we know and what professionals advise.
The phrase refers to PRP facials, or platelet-rich plasma, informally.
It entails taking a patient’s blood and using a centrifuge to separate the platelet-rich plasma out of it. The face is then punctured with tiny needles to reintroduce the plasma. By encouraging the creation of new collagen and elastin, the process is supposed to aid in the restoration of the skin’s barrier and lessen the visibility of wrinkles and acne scars. It has been around for a while; in 2013, reality TV star Kim Kardashian posted a selfie with blood on her face following surgery.
A few years later Ms Kardashian said that she would not get the treatment again, writing on her website that it was “really rough and painful for me.”Online estimates from providers place the cost of the procedure at a registered medical spa between $1,000 and $2,000 (£1,600).
The CDC learned about an American lady, between the ages of 40 and 50, who tested positive for HIV while traveling overseas in the summer of 2018.
The woman said she had never used injectable drugs before, had never received blood transfusions recently, and had only recently had sex with her current partner. She did, however, mention receiving a vampire facial at a New Mexico spa earlier in the year. The spa offered Botox and other injection services, but an inquiry by the CDC later found that it was operating without a license and that it had “multiple unsafe infection control practices.”
This included “unwrapped syringes” strewn in drawers and on countertops, as well as “unlabelled tubes of blood and medical injectables” kept in a kitchen refrigerator adjacent to food. The CDC had discovered at least one client who had tested positive for HIV before to visiting the spa, and several of the blood vials apparently exhibited indications of being used again.
Since then, the health department has connected the spa to five HIV infections, four of which included women who had all had vampire facials between May and September of 2018, as well as a guy who had a romantic relationship with one of the women. According to the CDC, the man and woman in a relationship had late-stage HIV infections, indicating they had the illness before to the facial.
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