Botox treatments and hyaluronic acid that were offered as “the cheapest” ran the risk of being in poor condition and being applied by a person who had no training to administer them. The National Police has dismantled in (80,760 inhabitants) a hairdresser that served as aesthetic center and carried out this type of anti -aging therapies to a large number of customers. The owner, a woman in her 40s without the corresponding medical training, has been arrested for crimes of professional intrusion and against public health. In the records of the premises, numerous medicines expired and stored were found without saving the necessary security measures, such as cooling.
Botulinic toxin, known by the Botox commercial name, is used medically in small doses to relax the muscles and avoid wrinkles, while hyaluronic acid is used to hydrate and fill the skin. Prices in legally established clinics are around 300-350 euros, according to sources consulted. The offers disseminated by the business dismantled by the agents went from 230 to 240 euros. “They presumed to be the cheapest in the market,” said police sources that have had access to the ads with which they advertised their services on social networks such as Tik Tok, Facebook or Instagram. “The cheap can be expensive,” summarizes Juan José Castro, head of the consumption, environment and doping section of the General Judicial Police Police Station. Although for now they have no complaints of victims damaged by some type of treatment, the chief inspector affects that the success of this operation lies in its preventive nature.
The agents began investigating this clinic in July, after receiving a call on the citizen collaboration phone 628 711 298, available 24 hours to inform about the crimes related to the environment, doping and consumption. They already had a previous notice, of the area of inspection of health centers and pharmacy control of the Community of Madrid, so, with that double alert, they decided to investigate more.
The center of which they were talking about was a hairdressing in which, in addition to capillary and manicure treatments, these substances were injected as aesthetic treatments. In their social networks they found videos in which they explained what punctures, with advice, and their effects consist of. Also images of the before and after, with examples of both women and men.
When the agents went to the business, they found “numerous boxes with boiled botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid” and other medications and packaging with needles and syringes intervened. The medicines hidden in a closet, after an advertising screen, and in a travel suitcase. None of them was refrigerated, when it comes to compounds that require conservation at certain temperatures. Part of the substances that were kept in the suitcase were expired, as reported on Thursday the National Police. During the operation they also intercepted in customs a package of hyaluronic acid from Korea that was destined for the clinic.
The head of the business, of Romanian origin and without a police record, according to the sources consulted, could not present their medical degree and do not know that it has it. He claimed that there were other medical professionals who came from abroad to practice these treatments in their business, a fact that could not be verified. Since September 2024, a little over a year ago, only doctors can do these treatments with the specialty of plastic, aesthetic and repairing surgery or other surgical specialty that includes competencies in cosmetic surgery. The measure, seeks to avoid cases such as Sara Gómez, who died two years ago in Murcia after undergoing liposuction “in a center that did not have the necessary guarantees.” The researchers have found that the arrested was not collegiate and have not been able to locate any of the doctors that she maintained that they also went to the clinic.
This section, which is part of the central unit of specialized and violent crime, has intervened in the last year in several similar cases, also related to aesthetic medicine, such as a clandestine operating room.
