Two clients at a New Mexico spa have been diagnosed with HIV after undergoing “vampire facials,” the New Mexico Department of Health announced Monday. Both clients “received injection-related procedures” as part of the facials at a now-closed spa in Albuquerque between May and September of last year. The procedure entails plasma being extracted from a client’s own blood, then injected back into their face. Tests found that the clients were infected with the same strain of the virus, “increasing the likelihood that the two HIV infections may have resulted from a procedure at the VIP Spa,” according to a press release. The “vampire facial” first gained popularity in 2013 after Kim Kardashian posted a photo of herself during the gruesome procedure, a choice she later said she regrets.
