NEW YORK – A beautician was arrested Tuesday on charges she disfigured spa clients by giving them fake cosmetic injections without a license, prosecutors said.
Patricia Villegas, 53, faces up to seven years in prison on charges of assault, unauthorized practice of medicine, fraud and reckless endangerment, the Queens district attorney's office said in a statement. She ran the spa out of her home in Flushing.
Villegas claimed to be administering cosmetic injections of restylane, collagen and cortisone — but actually injected two women with a substance "consistent with silicone," the release said.
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The women, aged 26 and 29 at the time of the injections in 2002 and 2003, suffered infections and permanent scarring and had to undergo facial surgeries, prosecutors said. The older woman experienced burning and "loss of lip function," they said.
Prosecutors were looking for others who may have received treatments at the Flushing business, Altiva New York, Temple of Beauty and Renewal.
No number was listed for the accused woman's home.
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