A Case of HIV from Vampire Facial — Malaysia Patient Guide
DTAPclinic Editorial · Information only
Published · General Health· Independent health education for Malaysia — not a clinic and not medical advice.
Overview
Reported outbreaks have linked HIV transmission to vampire facials when equipment or blood products were not handled safely. A Vampire Facial is a type of cosmetic treatment that was made popular by celebrity Kim Kardashian. The treatment involves taking the patient’s own blood and spinning it down until the cells separate out of the liquid portion (plasma). Small needles known as micro-needles are then used to make multiple small holes in the patient’s face. The plasma is then poured over the face so that it soaks into these holes. Two cases of HIV infection from such treatments were reported earlier this year in Albuquerque , New Mexico in the US. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/912436 Vampire Facial treatment is NOT approved in Malaysia.
What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?
Before undergoing a treatment, ensure that the establishment has all the proper local licenses required. Ensure that the therapist conducting the treatment has all the training certifications required. Do not undergo any treatments in non-medically licensed establishments that involves blood or body fluids. For treatments that involve puncturing or breaking the skin, ensure that the instruments used are properly packaged and sterilized. Insist on seeing the operator open the sealed package in front of you. If you feel you might have been exposed to an infection, see your local Doctor immediately for a discussion on HIV PEP and screening for other blood-borne infections like Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C . Learn More about Other STDs & Other STD Symptoms Penile Infection – What are the Causes & Treatment Vaginal infection – What are the Causes & Treatment Do I Have HIV Rash? Or Are They Other STD-Related Rashes? HIV Signs & Symptoms An Overview Of STD’s From An STD Doctor STD Signs & Symptoms STD Symptoms in Women Genital Blisters, Genital Warts & Genital Ulcers Syphilis Symptoms & Treatment (Painless STD Sores And Rashes) Mycoplasma Genitalium (MG) – STD Screening, Testing & Treatment
What this means for a clinic visit in Malaysia
A vampire facial is a cosmetic procedure that draws a small amount of your blood, spins it to separate platelet-rich plasma, then uses microneedles so that plasma can be applied to the face. In a licensed medical setting the blood, needles, and tubes are single-use or properly sterilised, and the plasma is used only on the person it came from. The published HIV clusters linked to this treatment were not about plasma itself being infectious in a closed, correctly handled system. They were about failures of basic infection control: reused needles, unlabelled blood products, or equipment that moved between clients.
Before you book anything that breaks the skin, ask who performs the procedure, whether they are working in a licensed clinic, and whether every needle and cartridge is opened in front of you. Do not accept a treatment that involves another person's blood. Home kits, hotel rooms, and salons that are not set up for sterile procedures are the wrong place for microneedling or plasma work. If a clinic cannot show you the sealed package and explain how blood is labelled, leave.
If you think you were treated with equipment that may have been shared, treat it as a possible blood exposure. HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, is time-critical and is usually considered within 72 hours. Testing on the same day can be negative even if infection occurred, because of the window period. Read the timelines in our HIV window period guide and the steps in HIV PEP. A negative rapid test on the day of the procedure does not close the question.
Tell the clinician the date of the procedure, whether you saw needles opened, and whether anyone else's blood could have been involved. They can advise on HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C testing schedules. Hepatitis B vaccination status is worth checking at the same visit, because hepatitis B is also transmitted by blood. This page is educational. It does not confirm that any particular salon or clinic caused an infection, and it is not a substitute for urgent assessment after a real exposure.
Articles on this site are independently edited patient guides for Malaysia. They are rewritten for local readers, exclude clinic promotions, and must not be copied from other publishers.