2 Investigators

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Some patients have been burned and even scarred for life when they've gone to one chain of medical spas. CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman has been reporting on financial and medical abuses at spas in Chicago.

Can your skin type tolerate laser treatments? If so, which laser? At what energy level? And for how long? Those are all decisions that need to be made by an experienced practitioner.

"There is a certain percent where I just do not turn a laser on them 'cause it's not appropriate for them," said dermatologist Dr. Jerome Garden.

For others the treatments can bring great results, but Garden, the past president of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery warns, "These machines can still cause damage. They can still injure the patient."

The experience of one woman the 2 Investigators talked to is an example of what can go wrong. She was badly burned last year after a Pure Med Spa nurse used a laser to remove red veins around her nose.

In lawsuits patients have charged the Pure Med Spa company with negligence that caused their injuries. They also say the company mislead them in their sales pitch.

"They told me that this was very safe," Deborah Hellman said.

Hellman went to the spa just off Michigan Avenue for treatments to remove brown sun spots on her neck and chest.

"They really made it out to me like it was getting a facial," Hellman said.

But after her third laser treatment she said she had second degree burns "that were just positively horrifying."

Her attorney, Thomas Boleky, says evidence gathered in the lawsuit showed the nurse changed the laser settings.

"The last setting, the highest setting was too much for her skin to handle," Boleky said.

The Pure Med Spas are supposedly doctor supervised but Hellman was told by the spa staff, "I couldn't get to their doctor, which was in another building, for two days," she said.

"Any damage that had been done at that point was permanent. It was too late," Boleky said.

Another patient at the Michigan Avenue location asked not to be identified. He charged that Pure Med Spa mislead him starting with its Web site offer of "hair removal without pain."

"He told the technician throughout the procedure, 'This hurts, please stop,'" said the man's attorney, James Rowe. "She told him, 'no pain, no gain.' In the end it was actually no gain, all pain."

The company claimed procedures would be done by a highly trained professional.

Rowe said while his client was promised a properly licensed and trained technician, she was not. As a result his lawsuit charges the patient "suffered burns on nearly 50 percent of his body."

"He's left now with a lifetime of scarring," Rowe said.

Pure Med Spa settled the lawsuits the 2 Investigators highlighted for a confidential amount, without admitting any guilt to the charges.

But Hellman wants more to be done.

"In my opinion the person who gave me this treatment was not adequately trained and because of that I will have scars on my neck for the rest of my life," Hellman said.

Pure Med Spa declined to answer the 2 Investigators' detailed questions about these cases.

But in a general written statement the company said: "We have performed thousands of laser treatments. The vast, overwhelming majority of our clients are completely satisfied with their results."

The company said it goes to great lengths to minimize risks and make sure each treatment is professionally done.

Now there's a battle over whether the state should start regulating medical spas. More on that Tuesday night at 10PM.

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