'My face looked like Frankenstein's'
SEATTLE -- What she was hoping for was a little beauty help. But what she got instead were permanent scars and big lumps.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, visited Natural Beauty, a Bellevue salon owned by Xin "Faith" He, in April 2008. She had gone to the salon to have her permanent eyeliner removed, but was talked into injectable treatments for her wrinkles.
The woman received injections on her forehead, nose, chin and under her eyes. She remembers loaded syringes and a license of some sort hung so high on the wall that she couldn't read it.
When she walked out, the woman said she was no longer herself.
"I went through a year and a half...my face looked like Frankenstein's," she said. "I don't go out to meet people if I don't have to, and I stay home. That's not me anymore. It changed my life entirely."
The woman thought what she was getting were Botox injections administered by a licensed medical practitioner. But federal investigators said He, a licensed esthetician and manicurist, does not have a license to perform injectable treatments. What's more, they said the substances He was using were counterfeit Botox and Restylane.
A search of He's salon turned up vials of drugs marked in Chinese writings. Investigators have not identified the drugs, but said they're sure the drugs are not FDA-approved.
Investigators believe another woman fell victim to He's unlicensed treatment at a salon in Factoria in 2005. A Snohomish County woman allegedly received injections from He and required medical treatment to reverse the damage.
That same year, investigators said, He was caught ready to inject counterfeit Botox into an undercover agent at her Issaquah home.
The state Department of Health served He with a cease and desist order, but the woman who allegedly fell victim to her at her Bellevue salon says He did not stop.
"I said, 'Oh, my God, she lied to me all this time. I don't lie. Why'd she lie to me? All this time I trusted her,'" the woman said.
A plastic surgeon removed the hardened mass from beneath the woman's skin, but U.S. attorneys said her face will never look the same.
Federal officials believe there may be additional victims in the case, and the investigation is ongoing.
He was one of three indicted in a crackdown on unlicensed cosmetic surgery practices in Western Washington. She made her first court appearance on Tuesday.
If convicted, He could face up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, visited Natural Beauty, a Bellevue salon owned by Xin "Faith" He, in April 2008. She had gone to the salon to have her permanent eyeliner removed, but was talked into injectable treatments for her wrinkles.
The woman received injections on her forehead, nose, chin and under her eyes. She remembers loaded syringes and a license of some sort hung so high on the wall that she couldn't read it.
When she walked out, the woman said she was no longer herself.
"I went through a year and a half...my face looked like Frankenstein's," she said. "I don't go out to meet people if I don't have to, and I stay home. That's not me anymore. It changed my life entirely."
The woman thought what she was getting were Botox injections administered by a licensed medical practitioner. But federal investigators said He, a licensed esthetician and manicurist, does not have a license to perform injectable treatments. What's more, they said the substances He was using were counterfeit Botox and Restylane.
A search of He's salon turned up vials of drugs marked in Chinese writings. Investigators have not identified the drugs, but said they're sure the drugs are not FDA-approved.
Investigators believe another woman fell victim to He's unlicensed treatment at a salon in Factoria in 2005. A Snohomish County woman allegedly received injections from He and required medical treatment to reverse the damage.
That same year, investigators said, He was caught ready to inject counterfeit Botox into an undercover agent at her Issaquah home.
The state Department of Health served He with a cease and desist order, but the woman who allegedly fell victim to her at her Bellevue salon says He did not stop.
"I said, 'Oh, my God, she lied to me all this time. I don't lie. Why'd she lie to me? All this time I trusted her,'" the woman said.
A plastic surgeon removed the hardened mass from beneath the woman's skin, but U.S. attorneys said her face will never look the same.
Federal officials believe there may be additional victims in the case, and the investigation is ongoing.
He was one of three indicted in a crackdown on unlicensed cosmetic surgery practices in Western Washington. She made her first court appearance on Tuesday.
If convicted, He could face up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.