Beautician who gave illegal Botox and fillers to customers in Jurong jailed, fined S$16,000

• Duong Bang Anh advertised her beauty services on her salon’s Instagram page
• At least two women approached her and she assured them of her credentials
• But she was unlicensed to perform such procedures and had illegally imported the Botox and fillers
• One customer reported her to the Health Sciences Authority after her cheeks swelled up

SINGAPORE — A 32-year-old woman was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail and a S$16,000 fine on Thursday (Sept 23) for providing unauthorised Botox and filler injections to women who patronised the salons she ran her beauty businesses from.

Duong Bang Anh, a Singapore permanent resident from Vietnam, was not a licensed medical practitioner and did not have a valid practising certificate to perform such medical procedures.

The beautician had also illegally imported the products needed for her side hustle, buying them in Vietnam and shipping them over to the Republic with a friend’s help.

Anh, also known as Kristy to her customers, pleaded guilty to two charges each under the Health Products Act and Medical Registration Act. Eight other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

If she cannot pay the fine, she has to serve about 45 days behind bars.

The court heard that she had offered such injection services since November 2018, advertising them on her salon’s Instagram account and listing her contact details. She also regularly posted photographs and videos of people before and after getting the injections.

From early to late 2018, she rented a section of Candy Craft Nails, a salon at Block 253 Jurong East Street 24, for her eyelash extension business.

Then till September last year, she owned K Beauty, a salon at Block 130 Jurong Gateway Road.

She provided the injections at these places as well as her own residence, a Housing and Development Board flat along Jurong West Avenue 5. She would issue receipts for manicure services but not for the injections.

GAVE TWO WOMEN INJECTIONS

Around November 2018, a 25-year-old Singaporean woman’s friend introduced Anh to her for fillers and Botox injections.

The customer then contacted Anh to ask about filler injections in order to attain a V-shaped face and dimples. Anh replied that she charged S$150 for such lip filler injections.

From Nov 28, 2018 to Aug 6, 2019, the customer went to Anh a few times. She lied to the customer that she had been medically trained in Vietnam and had a valid licence to perform Botox treatments in Singapore.

When the customer said in early 2019 that she felt pain and numbness in her cheeks after an injection, Anh assured her that there was nothing wrong and that all the products used were “good and expensive”.

In May 2019, another 45-year-old woman came across Anh’s Instagram account and contacted her over WhatsApp for filler injections on her cheeks and chin for S$800.

Anh asked the customer to lie down on a treatment bed at a partitioned area in K Beauty salon. She then applied some cream, which was supposedly numbing cream, on the woman’s face, and showed her a box that purportedly contained the fillers.

She also repeatedly told the customer that the products were “from doctors” and safe to use, and that she had been trained by a doctor.

She further said that she could train customers who wanted to perform such injections for a fee of about S$3,000.

Anh then injected the filler about two or three times into each of the customer’s cheeks, and a few times in her chin. The process lasted about 30 minutes and the customer paid Anh S$800 in cash afterwards.

When the customer felt swelling in her cheeks and suspected it was due to the fillers, she subsequently reported the matter to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

In July 2019, a regulatory specialist from HSA informed the Ministry of Health about the matter.

About a year later, enforcement officers from both the ministry and statutory board raided K Beauty. Anh was in the process of injecting Botox into the arm of a 22-year-old customer at the time.

The officers discovered eight boxes of Neuronox Purified Botulinum Toxin Type A Complex, and 20 boxes of Celosome Implant with Lidocaine, in the shop.

Anh told the authorities that she had bought them in Vietnam with the help of a friend, who had also helped to arrange for the products to be shipped to Anh’s flat. She had received the products, which cost her about S$1,100, about a month before the raid.

For performing medical acts while unlicensed, she could have been jailed for up to a year or fined up to S$100,000, or both.

For importing a health product without a licence, she could have been jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$50,000, or both.