Vampire Facial® at Regen Ocala

In the recent press the Vampire Facial® has taken some heat. Three clients from a New Mexico med spa were exposed to HIV after the procedure. There are many reasons why this occurred, which I will outline in the article, and rest assured, this could never have occurred at Regen Ocala. Having trained many physicians on this and other regenerative procedures, I am well known in the regenerative space as one who will not cut corners, and one who follows the rules to the T.

First you need to know what a Vampire Facial® is:

The Vampire Facial is a microneedling procedure where platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is micro-needled into the face to address all the following conditions:

1.   Texture Changes (rough, dry patches)

2.    Color changes such as age spots and melasma

3.   Reducing fine lines and wrinkles

4.   Improved texture changes and scarring from Acne.

Dr. Piccirillo with Dr. Runels at the Regen Ocala Grand Opening

Here are the reasons why the process broke down in the New Mexico case:

             1. The individuals performing the procedure where never trained on the procedure. They are what the inventor of the procedure, Dr. Charles Runels’ calls imposters. They illegally use his trademark to advertise the procedure, without ever going through the training. They did not know how to correctly perform the procedure, never attended a workshop, or registered for the online workshop. The procedure is trademarked, only those who have gone through training are permitted to use the trademark.    
I have attended over 40 of Dr. Runels’ workshops, and helped teach the Vampire Facial with him, so the staff at Regen Ocala is very well trained. I asked Dr. Runels’ for a statement, and this is what he said…

 “People got hurt because dishonest and unqualified people pretended to be doing a Vampire Facial, advertised that they were doing a Vampire Facial, but then actually did something stupid and dangerous that was not a Vampire Facial.

If you wanted to make people sick, I could not think of better way than using one non-FDA approved micro needling device on multiple people. On the other hand, if you use an FDA approved device and use it properly, it would be impossible to make anyone sick with it. People think about it as the Food and Drug Administration, but it’s really the food drug and device administration; there is a good reason for their oversight.”

              2. The second breakdown of the system was alluded to by Dr. Runels. The devices which were being used to perform the procedures were not FDA approved devices. The one which came into question during the New Mexico investigation was the microneedling device. The device used was purchased off the internet from a foreign country, to avoid our FDA regulations. This device had no way to prevent blood from getting inside the device and mixing with the next clients blood,,, and the next,,,

You can see where the problem arises.

Since it did not play a role in the serious outcome, they never mentioned the centrifuge used to process the blood. My guess is that it was also purchased off the internet and was not FDA approved. The centrifuge used the process platelet rich plasma, is not the same device used to the hospital lab to check your blood count.

Here is a link to an article published in Medscape where Dr. Runels discusses these events:

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/i-invented-vampire-facial-heres-how-keep-it-safe-2024a10008qt?form=fpf

Here is a link the Vampire Facial® Website:

https://www.vampirefacial.com/

You may ask what happened to the two ladies who broke the rules. They are each serving 7 years per incident in a New Mexico prison.

You need to trust your provider to do what is right.

At Regen Ocala, we only use FDA approved devices to perform well researched procedures, giving our patients the best possible outcomes.

Let us help "YOU become the the BEST YOU"