Orlando woman without medical license arrested after botched ‘double chin' surgery which she tried eight times to correct: police

Yahoo

6 hours ago

A woman in Orlando was arrested after she provided an Endolaser treatment to a customer's "double chin" without holding a medical license, according to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation.
Investigators said that Gabriela Pereira, 29, performed the surgery at Tonya Beauty in Orlando on April 16, 2024, according to an affidavit obtained by News 6 in Florida.
During the procedure, the patient reportedly was burned by the laser after it was left sitting for too long on her chin. The burn reportedly caused blistering and necrosis, according to investigators.
Pereira allegedly had the customer return eight times for follow up treatments in an attempt to correct the damage. Investigators allege that she posed as a technician with a medical license.
'Pereira provided the services in exchange for (the patient) allowing Tonya Beauty to use her photos online as a model,' the affidavit says.
Investigators said the patient who was burned learned of the clinic via recommendations online.
'Tonya Beauty is a very popular clinic among Brazilians, with a lot of actresses and singers coming from Brazil to get procedures done,' the affidavit says. 'They are very popular on social media, including Instagram, and are known to have gained the trust of Brazilians for cosmetic procedures in the United States.'
The Independent has requested a comment from Tonya Beauty.
An arrest warrant for Pereira was filed on July 29.
She is currently facing nine counts of practicing medicine without a license, nine counts of practicing a health care profession without a valid license, and two counts of dispensing medical drugs without a license, according to investigators.
Police shut down another unlicensed clinic in Florida in early July after a woman complained that she had experienced facial paralysis after receiving a botox injection.
Unlike Tonya Beauty, that clinic was operating out of a shed in a woman's backyard in Port St Lucie, Florida.
In that case, a woman named Rosa Mena was allegedly operating without a license from her backyard spa. She claimed to have been a doctor in the Dominican Republic, but her documentation was out of date.
A search warrant at Mena's property turned up medical beds, vials, needles, fat sculpting machines, micro-needling equipment, laser hair removal equipment, and liposuction machines.
Mena was charged with three counts of aggravated batter causing bodily harm and three counts of practicing medicine without an active license, and two fraud counts.