Baltimore — The Food and Drug Administration and other health agencies are investigating incidents across the country in which unlicensed, untrained practitioners are performing cosmetic procedures with supplies that may have been purchased in home improvement stores.
A Baltimore exotic dancer injected with silicone to enhance her buttocks has become another victim in a growing trend that has led to illnesses, injury and even deaths, the Baltimore Sun reports.
An FDA affidavit contained in court documents identified the woman who injected the unnamed dancer as Kimberly D. Smedley, 45, of Atlanta. Ms. Smedley was arrested in Washington in October with three 18-gauge medical needles found among her belongings. The case remains sealed, and the specific charges are unknown, the Sun reports.
The dancer was hospitalized twice less than four days after the last of her injections in March, according to court documents. On her second visit she was given blood thinners to alleviate clots, and she remained hospitalized for 10 days. A CT scan showed silicone in her lungs, where it remains.
Court records state that the silicone Ms. Smedley allegedly injected into the dancer came from an unlabeled jug that may have been purchased at a home improvement store, where it is sold as caulk and other adhesives, according to the Sun.
The dancer paid $1,000 for each of four sets of injections after meeting Ms. Smedley in the club where the dancer worked. She told authorities that Ms. Smedley also injected silicone into other dancers in a downtown Baltimore hotel, the Sun reports.
In similar incidents, a woman was arrested in Miami recently after allegedly injecting a woman with tire-repair liquid to enhance her buttocks, and earlier this year a British woman died after an improper procedure in a Philadelphia hotel room, according to the Sun. A New York City woman also was arrested on charges that she performed illegal breast- and buttocks-enhancement procedures in her home, according to news reports.
By: Bill Gillette
