American Women Infected with HIV After Receiving This Injection to Rejuvenate at Low Cost

Unlicensed Clinic Raided in New Mexico, USA
Three Women Infected with HIV After Receiving PRP Injections

Three women who received PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) injections, commonly known as 'Vampire Beauty Surgery,' at an unlicensed clinic were infected with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).

Image unrelated to the article content. [Photo by Getty Images Bank]

On the 29th (local time), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the results of an investigation into such beauty clinics conducted from 2018 to 2023 through the "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report." According to the report, the New Mexico Department of Health began investigating the clinic after receiving a report in the summer of 2018 that a woman in her 40s, with no other known infection causes, had contracted HIV following a cosmetic procedure at an unlicensed plastic surgery clinic.

A total of five HIV infection cases were identified at the clinic. Excluding two individuals who were already HIV carriers, the remaining three were found to have contracted HIV while receiving PRP treatments at the clinic. This was due to the repeated reuse of disposable syringes. The clinic used fine needles for skin regeneration, injecting plasma made from the patients' own blood into their faces, but reused needles and other equipment, which transmitted HIV.

The CDC stated, "It is well known that unsterilized syringes are a route of HIV transmission, but this is the first reported case of HIV spreading through contaminated blood during a cosmetic injection service." They added, "This infection case highlights the critical importance of infection prevention in establishments providing cosmetic injection services using needles." The clinic ultimately closed in the fall of 2018 when the investigation began, and the owner was prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license.