Spa Left Woman With Skin 'Like Raw Meat'

March 7, 2007 — -- It used to be that salons were just for hair and nails. Now, Americans are undergoing all sorts of procedures at so-called "medical spas," from laser hair removal to Botox injections to skin bleaching.

Business is booming. Since 1999, the number of medical spas in the country has grown from just one to more than 2,000.

But procedures can be dangerous, even deadly, if they're performed by the wrong hands. The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) says it has seen a 41 percent rise in botched treatments. The damage done can last a lifetime.

Jordan Miles, a 52-year-old stay-at-home mom, has seen the ugly side of medical spas. She went to one in Panama City, Fla., for what she thought was a routine procedure -- she received laser treatments to remove sunspots on her back and chest.

She was told the procedure would be relatively quick and painless.

"They put a topical ointment on my skin called Leveline, which intensified the laser," Miles said. "After it was over, I was already burning. During [the treatment], it was very excruciating pain, but I was lead to believe that this was normal."

The pain, which she said felt like someone pressing hot curling irons in to her back, was not normal. After leaving the spa, she said that her back was on fire and that she was vomiting from the severe pain. When she finally looked in a mirror, Miles was shocked at what she saw.

"It looked like raw meat. I had horrendous blisters all over it. It was in a zebra-stripe type pattern. It was scary," she said.

Miles went to a dermatologist who told her she had second and third degree burns all over her chest and back. She later learned that her tanned skin might have been more vulnerable to the lasers, but she said the technician did not test her skin first.

"No one ever gave me any warning signs," she said. "No one ever did a patch test."

Miles isn't alone. With the popularity of spas that also perform medical procedures, the number of reported problems is also on the rise.