An LA girl is suing celebrity esthetician Sonya Dakar for fraud, alleging she was not licensed to carry out the chemical peel that gave her “extreme burns and everlasting scarring.”
Victoria Nelson claimed in her go well with that she visited Dakar’s Beverly Hills clinic — which has welcomed the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore and Sofia Vergara — in April 2021 and “left with extreme burns to her face, together with to each cheeks, beneath one eyebrow and to her brow.”
“Throughout that facial, Defendant Sonya Dakar deliberately positioned an unknown substance, seemingly acid, onto Plaintiffs face, inflicting extreme burns and everlasting scarring,” claims the go well with filed final week in LA courtroom.
Nelson is looking for about $71,000 from Dakar, not for her reported burn harm, however for allegedly making “false representations” to her about “her skilled {qualifications} and licensure, the character and legality of the therapies offered, and the accuracy and authorization of the costs” to her account.
The Publish reached out to Dakar and her clinic for remark.
Nelson, founder and CEO of Plain Leisure, stated that her zits prompted her to hunt out Dakar in 2019 on the age of 26.
Nelson claimed that Dakar charged her $70,972.27 for therapies between Nov. 7, 2019, and Nov. 5, 2023.
On TikTok, Nelson has described herself as a frequent shopper of Dakar’s, even after the alleged 2021 chemical peel burning. She stated she returned for about 30 periods to repair her face.
Dakar’s invoice was one concern Nelson raised in her go well with.
“Most of the fees, along with being obtained by fraud, have been unauthorized by Plaintiff and Plaintiff nonetheless doesn’t know what she paid for,” the go well with claims.
For instance, Nelson questioned the aim of an alleged $6,495 cost on Nov. 5, 2023, saying she is “sure that she didn’t buy something” from Dakar at the moment.
One other concern is the licensure for Dakar and her clinic.
Dakar’s institution license for her well-known Beverly Hills clinic expired in September 2021, in response to the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology’s on-line license database.
In April 2022, the board revoked the license following accusations that the clinic had superior instruments for the “follow of drugs,” like Cutera laser machines and Cellu M6 for cellulite, and refused inspector entry.
A separate institution license was issued to Sonya Dakar Skincare Clinic in March 2024. It’s as a consequence of expire in 2026, although the board has opened a case in opposition to Dakar and her clinic.
The board stated in a case report out there on-line that it fielded a criticism from a shopper with the initials “VN” in February 2024. The shopper had skilled “extreme chemical burns that brought about important injury.”
An inspector who visited the clinic in August 2024 “noticed a radio frequency microneedling machine,” per the case report.
Nelson’s go well with claims that Dakar “carried out procedures on [her], comparable to microneedling and procedures utilizing a lancet, that are exterior the lawful scope of an esthetician’s license in California.”
Nelson stated on TikTok that the microneedling was a part of the therapies to restore facial injury.
Final month, the deputy government officer of the board known as for a listening to on VN’s accusations. It’s unclear if one has been scheduled.
The Publish reached out to a rep for the board for remark.
Dakar has held an esthetician license in California since 1979, in response to the board. It’s as a consequence of expire in 2027.
One disciplinary motion has been taken in opposition to Dakar’s esthetician license. In 2011, the board positioned Dakar on probation for 3 years.
In accordance with the board, Dakar admitted to “grabbing [an] inspector’s hand, making an attempt to chunk her and pulling her hair. The inspector was unable to finish the [2008] inspection and sought medical
consideration.”
Exterior of final week’s lawsuit and her criticism to the board, Nelson filed go well with in LA in opposition to Dakar for alleged medical malpractice in 2024. She dismissed it weeks later.
Nelson stated in her new go well with that she dropped the previous one “as a result of [Dakar and her clinic] represented that they lacked insurance coverage protection, leading to no compensation” to her.
She now believes that Dakar did have insurance coverage.
Nelson has additionally posted TikToks concerning the ordeal — an August video about her “everlasting disfigurement” from the 2021 chemical peel racked up practically 10 million views.
“It’s one thing that I’m very self-conscious about. It’s the very first thing that I see after I get up within the morning, the very last thing I see earlier than I am going to mattress,” she stated on the time concerning the “injury” to her face.
This week on TikTok, Nelson stated that she filed her newest go well with “to be a part of an answer to deliver extra transparency to an trade that so many younger girls, together with myself, have put our belief [in].”
