‘Vampire facials’, popularized by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, involve extracting blood from elsewhere on the body and injecting it into the face in the hope of stimulating new, rejuvenated skin cells.

The owner of VIP Spa, Maria Ramos de Ruiz, 62, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license and is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence

VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque (pictured in April 2017) offered ‘vampire facials’ and was closed in 2018 after two cases of HIV were linked to it. In 2023, a further three cases among prior clients were identified

It is thought that HIV could have been spread via shared needles used by the spa.

The first woman tested positive for HIV in summer 2018 after getting a vampire facial. She had no history of injectable drug use, recent blood transfusions or recent 𝑠e𝑥ual contact with someone with HIV.

The second and third women also received vampire facials in 2018. One was diagnosed with the earliest stage of HIV in 2019, and the other in 2023, when she was taken to the hospital with severe symptoms.

A separate woman and a man also tested positive for HIV. The woman was given a vampire facial at the spa, while the man contracted the infection through having 𝑠e𝑥 with her. He never received any services from the spa.

The patients ranged in age from 40 to 60 years, the CDC said.

The CDC and health department investigators determined that up to 59 spa attendees may have been exposed to HIV and of those, 20 had received vampire facials.

In June 2022, the spa’s owner Maria Ramos de Ruiz, 62, pleaded guilty to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Maria Ramos de Ruiz (pictured in 2021) was indicted on more than 20 felony counts after two clients claimed they contracted HIV from a ‘vampire facial’ at her salon

Kim Kardashian popularized the ‘vampire facial’ when she posted a selfie of her face covered in blood in 2013

The spa, at 809 Tijeras Avenue, closed in September 2018 after an inspection by the New Mexico Department of Health and the CDC discovered unwrapped needles scattered in drawers, on counters and discarded in trash cans, as well as a rack of unlabeled blood tubes.

The vampire facial procedure was made popular by celebrities and is said to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, plump sagging skin and improve skin tone.

Blood is usually taken from the arm and separated into ‘youth-boosting’ platelet-rich plasma, which is then applied to facial skin that has been pricked with microneedles.

Inspectors also found fake certificates for cosmetic medicine training on the wall and a fake diploma from the University of Phoenix, The Albuquerque Journal reported.

Ramos de Ruiz’s cosmetologist license had expired in 2013.

Inspectors uncovered numerous health code violations, including unwrapped needles, blood being dumped into the kitchen sink and unlabeled syringes beside food in the refrigerator, The Albuquerque Journal reported.

Ramos de Ruiz told inspectors that she did breast and buttocks sculpting, cellulite treatments and ‘vampire facials’

She was ordered by the New Mexico Medical Board to stop her unlicensed practice of medicine in the state in December of 2018.

Ramos de Ruiz is currently serving her sentence at Springer Correctional Center, according to inmate records.