New HIV case linked to $100 ‘Vampire facial’ procedure at unlicensed New Mexico spa

A person recently diagnosed with HIV is believed to have contracted the virus during a “vampire facial” procedure at a since-shuttered New Mexico spa.

The former customer’s only self-reported HIV exposure risk was the special vampire or PRP facial — in which a person’s blood is drawn and then parts of the blood are reinjected into the skin via micro-needling — from VIP Spa in Albuquerque in 2018, the New Mexico Department of Health said.

The spa was shut down in September 2018 after the DOH and the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department found it had been conducting business in a way that risked the spread of blood-borne infections such as HIV.

Performing vampire facials requires a medical license, and the spa’s owner, Maria de Lourdes Ramos de Ruiz, only had a cosmetologist license, which had expired in 2013, state investigators found, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Following the investigation, more than 100 former VIP Spa clients were tested for HIV and other infections between 2018 and 2019.

Two of the tests came back positive for HIV and those infected had received vampire facials.

The two people told investigators they paid $100 for the vampire facial, the Journal reported.

Due to the new 2023 HIV case, the health department has reopened its investigation into VIP Spa and has identified additional new HIV infections related to services received there.

Health officials did not specify how many new infections their probe discovered.

The department is recommending anyone who received any injected-related procedure, including a vampire facial or Botox, at VIP Spa be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Health officials said former clients who were tested before should be retested as well — even if they had tested negative previously.

“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 Dr. Laura Parajon, deputy secretary for DOH.  

Ramos de Ruiz, the owner of the spa, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.