SEATTLE — Two Snohomish County women were the victims of botched beauty treatments by an Issaquah aesthetician who allegedly used counterfeit wrinkle removers, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Both women had to seek medical treatment after their attempts to smooth away wrinkles left them with serious facial injuries, according to records filed late last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
A federal grand jury indicted Xin He, 46, for investigation of using counterfeit Botox and Restylane in her Bellevue salons. He is not a medical doctor licensed to use injectable treatments, authorities said. Investigators also suspect He was using drugs from China that aren’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Xin He first came to the attention of the state Department of Health in 2005. A Snohomish woman sought medical attention from a dermatologist after He injected the woman with what she represented as Restylane, a filler gel used to smooth wrinkles and folds. Her face became inflamed and bruised. The injuries persisted for months, court papers said.
An undercover agent met with He under the guise of seeking wrinkle treatment. Xin He asked the agent to meet her at her home. She had been fired from her job at the Bellevue salon for performing unlicensed medical procedures, court papers said.
Xin He prepared to inject the agent with something from a vial believed to be counterfeit Botox from China. The agent identified herself and told He the state had received a complaint.
The health department issued a cease and desist order directing Xin He to stop performing the procedures. Investigators also seized vials of bogus Botox from He’s home.
Investigators received another complaint about Xin He. A Bothell woman in March told investigators she met Xin He, also known as Faith He, at a Chinese dance class in Bellevue. He encouraged the woman to come to her beauty salon. He told the woman she was ugly and needed Restylane injections, court papers said.
The woman asked He if she was licensed to perform the procedures and He allegedly told the woman she’d been administering wrinkle treatments for 15 years and had been a nurse in China.
He allegedly injected an anesthetic into the woman’s eyelids to dull the pain associated with removing the woman’s permanent eyeliner. She also injected what she called Restylane into the woman’s forehead, cheeks, chin and near her nose and charged the woman $7,700.
The woman had to undergo plastic surgery to remove the hardened substances found under her facial skin, according to court papers.
Investigators raided He’s salon and seized numerous vials labeled in Chinese characters.
If convicted, Xin He faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
In an unrelated case, a Burien couple was indicted for attempting to bribe a public official investigating their beauty salon, authorities said Tuesday. The agent reported that the couple gave her $800 in return for allowing them to keep an illegal laser skin treatment device. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.
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