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Three women became infected with HIV after getting "vampire facials" at an unlicensed spa in New Mexico. The cosmetic treatment was popularised by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, who had a vampire facial in an episode of the television programme Kourtney and Kim Take Miami in 2013. The procedure involves drawing a person's blood, separating out the platelet-rich plasma and injecting it into the face to rejuvenate the skin. Ms Kardashian has since said that it was "really rough and painful" and she would "never" do it again. The women who underwent the treatment in New Mexico are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting HIV through a cosmetic procedure using needles, US health officials said. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began investigating the VIP Spa in Albuquerque in the summer of 2018, when a woman in her 40s tested positive for the virus despite having no known risk factors. Although HIV transmission from contaminated blood through unsterile injection is a well-known risk, the CDC found the clinic appeared to reuse disposable equipment intended for one-time use. Many popular cosmetic treatments are delivered with needles, such as Botox to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fillers to plump lips. However, the HIV cluster linked to the vampire facials represents an anomaly and the procedure itself is low risk. The CDC report noted this is the first documented incident of probable infections involving cosmetic services. An inspection of the spa found unlabelled vials of blood on a kitchen counter and unwrapped syringes in drawers and other practices that increased the risk of spreading "blood-borne infections, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to clients". The VIP Spa was shuttered in 2018 after the investigation was launched, and its owner was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for practising medicine without a licence. After the initial HIV case was confirmed in 2018, a second woman who received a vampire facial at the spa tested positive for HIV during a routine evaluation for life insurance in the autumn of 2018. A third did not learn she had HIV until she was hospitalised with an Aids-related illness last spring. By spring 2023, a total of five HIV cases had been identified. Two of the patients had stage 1, acute HIV infection, and three had stage 3, full-blown Aids at the time of diagnosis. Nearly 200 other of the spa's clients and their sexual partners were tested, and no additional HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C infections were detected.
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