news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Three women seeking hourglass figures nearly died after getting illegal hip and buttock injections at an unlicensed clinic, health officials said.

Should cosmetic surgery be more regulated by the government? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

The women — from Illinois, Maryland and Washington — traveled to Greensboro for the injections at the end of December, according to the Guilford County Department of Public Health.

They got the procedure at Altmed of the Triad, a clinic that authorities said has no licensed doctors on staff. Within days, all three women were hospitalized with kidney failure. Two are now on permanent dialysis.

Merle Green, Guilford County's public health director, said her department was alerted Dec. 27, and an investigation into the clinic has raised more questions than answers so far.

"We have issued an order to stop them from giving that injection and then another to stop them giving any injections," Green said Wednesday. "We're working with the district attorney to get a search warrant, because we really don't know yet what these women were injected with."

Green said the clinic's operator, Laura Cheek, is cooperating with the investigation but couldn't give samples of the substance used in the injections because she didn't have any more. Green said Cheek identified the substance as Silskin, a form of silicone oil used for cases of retinal detachment but not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for cosmetic injections.

Cheek did not return calls Wednesday, and Altmed of the Triad's office at 7616 Business Park Drive was closed.

"This (Silskin) is really not supposed to be used for this kind of thing," Green said. "All of the injection procedures this clinic was doing are practicing medicine without a license, and that is a crime."

Silskin injections aren't the only questionable services offered by the clinic. Its Web site, which bills the clinic as "total healthcare under one roof," also advertises weight loss treatments involving human growth hormone and Human Chorionic Gonadatropin, a hormone produced by pregnant women.

Green said the clinic used the name of a doctor at UNC Hospital as its "medical director." When contacted by the health department, the doctor said she was not affiliated with the clinic in any way, a fact Green said was confirmed by the N.C. Medical Board.

Green said the Guilford County District Attorney's Office would have to look into charges in the case when more evidence is available.

District Attorney Doug Henderson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Practicing medicine without a license is a Class 1 misdemeanor in North Carolina.



Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com