Is That Filler Legit, or Was It Bought on Alibaba?
- Gretchen Andrew
- Oct 25
- 2 min read
Counterfeit injectables, fraudulent credentials, lumpy lips, and droopy eyes—inside the underregulated world of med spas. By Sarah Treleaven in Elle
As pressures mount driven by AI beauty standards what sort of lengths our business owners women and men going to to get the homogenized look of modern femininity and masculinity?
In Facetune Portraits I look at the tension being created when we try to live up to the ai-driven ideal of how we're supposed to look. What if we could actually see the scarring caused by social media filters? And a lot of ways we can when these physical procedures that are manifestations of a digital ideal are increasingly going wrong.
This article is truly terrifying. It looks at the industry that is capitalizing off of the insecurity caused by not looking perfectly like an AI ideal of being a woman. Here are some of the more terrifying facts from the article:
Unlicensed people are injecting prescription drugs into faces
Fadanelli was not a nurse, just a licensed aesthetician who legally could only do facials and microdermabrasion — not injections.
Many states allow treatments with minimal or no physician oversight.
A 2023 study found physicians are only present in 38% of injectable procedures in med spas.
Counterfeit products are shockingly common
She allegedly imported $50 “Botox” from Alibaba instead of FDA-approved $650 Botox.
Counterfeits can contain:
Unknown dosage of botulinum toxin (botulism risk)
Unsterile substances
Hardware store silicone
Even tire sealant
Doctors report:
41% have encountered counterfeit injectables.
40% have treated patients harmed by them.
Actual cases of severe harm and death
A woman in Texas died after an IV med-spa treatment — performer was unlicensed.
Four clients contracted HIV from “vampire facials” due to reused/unsanitary blood equipment.
Patients from counterfeit Botox:
Droopy eyelids
Vision problems + botulism
Lumps and deformities
Breathing issues + incontinence
The industry is exploding — and oversight is struggling to keep up
Med spas have grown 6x since 2010
Over 10,000 spas in the U.S.
$20B industry heading toward $49B by 2030
Regulations are fragmented, and enforcement is often weak or absent.
Inspectors often don’t know what they’re checking for
Skin Beauté was inspected, got a $100 fine for syringes in the wrong room…
No one checked whether the provider:
Had a medical license
Used real medical products
Had sterile procedures
→ They continued operating while under criminal investigation.
Consumers can’t tell what’s legit
The spa looked glamorous, packaging looked real
Credential claims were fake, including a misspelled “Havard” degree
Even a high-end NYC med spa owner was arrested for counterfeit Botox after harming clients
Providers know some of this stuff is dangerous
Supplier warned counterfeit Botox was too potent
Fadanelli reportedly kept illegal vials in a lunchbox
The Core Horror
Your injector might not be medically qualified — and your filler might not even be real.
There are real cases of death, HIV transmission, botulism, and permanent facial deformity — and many spas operate in a regulatory gray zone where no one is truly watching.
Learn More about Lip Filler Risks
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