These glow ups come with a secret gross out.
Big Apple “medspas” routinely perform Botox, Brazilian butt lifts and other beauty procedures without medical licenses, clean conditions — or even real doctors, a stomach-turning probe found.
City and state investigators looked at 15 medspas — or medical spas — in the five boroughs between June and September of last year and reported finding shocking violations at each of the locations.
A new probe reveals that medspas across the Big Apple have been conducting Botox, Brazilian butt lifts and other beauty procedures without licenses, clean conditions and even real doctors. Robert Miller
Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer said, “You have prescription drugs that are outdated. You have doctors who are not doctors doing Botox. No, thank you.” Robert Miller
“You have prescription drugs that are outdated. You have doctors who are not doctors doing Botox. No, thank you,” said Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer, as she unveiled the findings at one of the outposts, Sutton Wellness NYC in Midtown.
“You have sanitary conditions all over the place in terms of needles and filth. There was one situation where people who worked there lived in the basement. It goes on,” she said.
The medical spa industry has boomed in recent years, with more than 10,000 across the nation, according to a 2024 industry study.
But the craze comes with potential dangers, as swanky Upper East Side moms who’ve flocked to shady clinics for off-brand Ozempic and Botox-seeking clients of a Hell’s Kitchen aesthetician have allegedly learned.
An investigator involved in the probe estimated there are hundreds of medspas in New York City, meaning the 15 inspected are only a fraction of those clinics.
The probe by the City Council’s Oversight and Investigations Division — conducted alongside state agencies — dovetailed with other reports that found medspas often skirt safety requirements as they peddle cheap fillers, IV therapies and other trendy beauty treatments.
“At every location inspected, investigators found the business to be offering medical procedures without the required licensure,” the City Council report titled “Moving the Needle” states.
Among the 15 medspas in violation of performing these procedures without licenses or doctors include Sutton Wellness NYC in Midtown. Robert Miller
Inspectors also found:
The unlicensed medical treatments included Botox, fillers and other injectables.
86% of medspas missed required safety records.
73% operated without any medical professional present to oversee medical procedures.
63% had chemical or fire safety violations, such as improper storage of hazardous materials.
60% lacked proof of liability insurance altogether.
53% had sanitation and hygiene failures.
Most medspas inspected were unnamed in the report, but investigators revealed Sutton Wellness had been dinged for having a nurse illegally administering beauty injections, IV drips and other procedures in the back room without oversight of a doctor, as required by state law.
Brewer called for “massive” and “constant” inspections of the medspas, and for authorities to “close them down if they don’t follow the rules.”
“Because it’s people’s lives,” she said, “they could be burned. I don’t know what happens if you get illegal Botox, God help you.”
Inspectors also saw that over half of the locations had unsanitary conditions, 60% lacking proof of liability insurance, Robert Miller
Jimmy Tam, 65, a beautician who works at Sutton Wellness, said the medspa now has a doctor who oversees injections, but railed against the inspections as “not fair.”
“It’s poison. It’s putting poison in your face,” he said of Botox, before telling a Post photographer that he should get the injection.