A Woman Was Put on a Ventilator Because of Fake Botox. The Experts Are Afraid It Will Happen Again
More than a dozen women ended up in the hospital after getting cheap, fake Botox injected into their faces by people who weren’t trained to do so and in places where there wasn’t a doctor on hand.
At least one woman got so sick that she needed a respirator to help her breathe.
Seventeen women in nine states have had problems like blurred vision, trouble breathing, and trouble swallowing after getting what they thought were Botox shots to get rid of wrinkles and fine lines. Thirteen were taken to the hospital, and some needed care in the critical care unit.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study on Thursday with scary information about patients in Tennessee and New York City. In Tennessee, a woman from Kentucky was taken to the hospital. The women were between 26 and 55 years old.
Four women got Botox shot into their faces, including the lines between their eyebrows, at a party at a relative’s house in Tennessee about three days before they started to feel sick. Later, a review revealed that the injected drug was fake and given by someone who wasn’t authorized to do so.
“Sometimes, providers were so worried about patients’ breathing that they were putting them in intensive care units to keep an eye on them more closely,” said Dr. Christine Thomas, who is the lead author of the new study and is the medical director at the Tennessee Department of Health.
At the time of the investigation, Thomas worked at the CDC as an outbreak intelligence service officer. He said it was a “perfect storm.”
“We saw injections happening in people’s homes from people who weren’t licensed, and the drugs were fake,” Thomas said.
NBC News has learned of one of the scariest cases of a fake injury caused by Botox. In Colorado, a 49-year-old woman got what she thought was Botox, but it made her eyes blur quickly and made her body feel too weak for her age.
The woman had trouble breathing and eating for nine days before she was taken to the hospital. It got so bad for her that doctors had to intubate her and put her on a machine to help her breathe.
They didn’t know what was wrong with her until a family member casually noted that she had Botox shots not long ago.
Grace Nelson, a disease intervention supervisor at the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment who helped lead the investigation, said that probably saved the woman’s life.
Nelson said, “The patient was getting worse and wasn’t in good enough shape for us to do an interview.” The family member’s information is what made Nelson’s team step in and help get botulinum antitoxin prescribed to the woman so that the poison wouldn’t do any more damage.
Nelson said the woman had to stay in the hospital for more than two weeks and needed more therapy.
Doctors who are licensed to give Botox are worried that more patients will get hurt like the one in Colorado, especially since medical spas that aren’t regulated have become more famous.
Dr. Kate Dee, a doctor and founder of Glow Medispa in Seattle, said, “I’m very worried.” “That vial could hold anything since more and more people are buying fake Botox online.”
A lawyer named George Karavetsos, who used to run the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, said that fake Botox is not a new problem.
There has been fake Botox in the U.S. supply chain for at least 20 years, Karavetsos said. “I have personally looked into and prosecuted people who were either bringing in fake Botox or making their own fake Botox here in the U.S. to sell to med spas and other doctors in the country.”
Karavetsos said that most of the efforts to stop the flow of tainted Botox have failed, including catching the people in other countries who are responsible for the tainted goods.
“How can I stop it?” It’s teaching the customer something.
Things you should know before getting Botox
There are several ways to spot situations that might be dangerous.
Check the bottles out. Thomas said that her team saw misspelled words on the fake bottles. And the FDA says that the outside of fake Botox goods’ boxes:
The main ingredient is shown as “OnabotulinumtoxinA” instead of “Botulinum Toxin Type A.”
This number doesn’t come from an AbbVie machine, but it does mean 150 doses.
Is written in a language besides English.
Botox should only be gotten in a licensed medical setting from a licensed source.
Dee said, “A license to do cosmetology is not a license to do medicine.” “A huge red flag” should be raised if the Botox is being given in a spa, a home, or a hotel room. These places don’t usually have a doctor nearby.
Thomas said that before the event, companies should make sure they have the right licenses.
For example, the Tennessee Department of Health has a link that lets you look for approved businesses in that state, such as medical spas.
Karavetsos said, “Don’t be fooled by appearances. People go in and see someone in a white coat.” They see people who look like professionals giving Botox. They are innocent victims.
Deals that seem too good to be true should be avoided. Thomas said, “One of the women who was treated in Tennessee said they paid less for their injections than we know botulinum toxin costs.”
Dee said that Botox costs about $15 a unit on average, so it would make sense to charge anywhere from $12 to $25. That covers not only the vial but also things like rubbing alcohol, gauze, cooling, and other costs that medical facilities have to pay for every day.
When someone charges much less—for example, $6 to $9 per unit—that’s a red flag.
Dee said, “No one can do that for a long time and stay in business.” “It looks like those people are breaking the law.”