A Denver man skipped out on a $900 bill after going through Botox treatments at a Cherry Creek doctor’s office. Police have been unable to track him down, as the medical and contact information he left with the office was fake.
According to USA Today, the man went into Vitahl Medical Aesthetics on Sept. 24, where he requested $1,200 in services, on special for about $900. This included Botox and Sculptra treatments, both used to treat wrinkles.
“Nothing too out of the ordinary, we just thought, ‘Oh, a cute guy, he’s visiting. He knew the routine,’” said Kenna Gilstrap, who administered the treatments on the man.
When the man was done with his injections and it was time to pay, he handed them a credit card. However, the card didn’t seem to work, and he said that he’d have to go get cash. Fox31 reports that the woman at the front desk asked him to leave some form of identification until he got back, and then the man ran out and disappeared.
“Nobody was sure what to do in the beginning and nobody really wanted to call the cops,” said Tahl Humes, the medical director at the center. “I think all of us hoped that he was going to come back, that really we just misunderstood and he had run out the door and really did go to get his ID and was going to get cash but it didn’t turn out that way.”
Humes says that she’s never seen anything like this in her 10 years of business. She is concerned not only with the money but the patient care that is required after Botox injections. Since the man ran out, her office cannot follow up with him after the procedure to make sure he didn’t have any adverse reactions.
“After Botox is administered we review post care instructions with clients, which include actively using the treated muscles by using expressions for about four hours after a treatment and to not rub the brow region if this area is treated,” says Dr. Janis P. Campbell, Dermatologist at Laser Rejuvenation Clinic & Spa of Calgary. “In two to four weeks patients return for review of their aesthetic results and further treatment plans can be adjusted as desired.”
In the future, Vitahl Medical Aesthetics will require their patients to provide them with identification cards up front, which they will photocopy. They will also ask patients to pay some money for the procedures before they are completed.