The New Mexico Department of Health is urging former customers of the now-defunct VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque to get tested for HIV and other bloodborne infections. Health officials have identified several new cases of HIV this year tied to services provided by the spa, including so-called “vampire facials.” The spa was shut down in 2018 over unsafe practices that exposed customers to these infections.
Vampire facials are a type of microneedling procedure, which puncture the skin with tiny needles in an attempt to stimulate healing and collagen production in the surrounding area. In a vampire facial, platelet-rich blood is then added to the skin to ostensibly boost this healing ability, causing a dramatic blood-soaked appearance.
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There’s only limited evidence suggesting that platelet-rich blood can provide any extra skincare benefits. But the procedure itself should be normally low risk, since the blood is supposed to be sourced from the same person undergoing the facial. However, if the tools used for a vampire facial aren’t sterilized properly between customers, there is the possibility of cross-contamination. And that appears to be exactly what happened at the VIP Beauty Salon and Spa.
About five years ago, the New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, Barbers and Cosmetologists Board conducted an investigation into the spa, identifying practices there that could have spread bloodborne infections like HIV. The spa permanently closed in September 2018 as a result. More than 100 former customers were tested for these infections over the next two years, with two cases of HIV potentially tied to the spa discovered in 2019. And in June 2022, according to the health department, the owner of the spa pleaded guilty to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license.
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Unfortunately, the Department of Health’s Infectious Disease Bureau received a report this year of a newly identified HIV case—one with no self-reported risk factors other than having gotten a vampire facial at the spa in 2018. The case led the department to reopen their investigation and they have since discovered several other HIV cases directly or indirectly linked to the spa.
Health officials are advising everyone who ever received an injection-related service at the VIP Spa, including vampire facials, to seek out HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C lab testing. Importantly, even those who originally tested negative during the initial investigation are being asked to get retested.
“It’s very important that we spread the word and remind people who received any kind of injection-related to services provided at the VIP Spa to come in for free and confidential testing,” said Laura Parajon, deputy secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health, in a statement.
The New Mexico Department of Health has arranged three walk-in testing events for former customers this month at the South Valley Public Health office in Albuquerque, two of which are still available. People should also be able to schedule free and confidential testing at any other public health office in New Mexico. And information about other testing services located in the state can be found here.
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