Ally Day was eight months pregnant when a friend treated her to a day at the spa -- and she ended up in the emergency room.
A few days after her facial at a spa in Victoria, she woke up with a giant boil on her forehead.
She said her doctor believed it was caused by a bacterial infection at the spa. Because Day was pregnant, her doctor didn't want to give her regular antibiotics to relieve the boil.
So instead the doctor sent her to a Vancouver hospital, where she had to sit with an IV twice a day for a week -- and that meant she missed a week of work.
"It wasn't supposed to be this stressful, traumatic, horrible, scary thing," Day told CTV later.
- Related: CTV News's Pretty Dirty series
- Related: Inspection reports from Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health
There's no way Day could have seen it coming -- in Victoria, health inspectors do not regularly check salons, and they don't post results of those inspections for the public to see.
In the Lower Mainland, spas and salons are checked about once a year, but it's only in the Fraser Health region -- anything east of Burnaby and Surrey -- that the results are posted.
It's important that the public checks out a facility before they go, said Fraser Health's Inderjeet Gill. And once they are there, make sure everything looks clean.
"It's clearly important that when the public is going into these facilities they notice the combs, brushes, no hair sticking to them and the place is clean and sanitary," said Gill.
Most salons are clean, he said, although the region does have its share of problem salons.
ProfessionNail in Guildford Mall was marked "High-Risk" four times in the past four years, most recently in April.
Inspectors found three critical violations -- unsanitary practices, improper cleaning and sterilization of tools, and that an employee had poor hygiene.
Manager Susan Nguyen said that at least one of the violations was because an employee didn't switch tools before working on someone else.
Doctors say infections can be spread as one tool used on one customer is used on another customer.
"Just one girl made a mistake," said Nguyen of the April "High-Risk" designation. The facility since passed an inspection.
New Happy Hair Cut and Beauty Parlour on 120 St in Surrey has been rated "High-Risk" since May 5. Inspectors found one critical violation -- improper sterilization of tools.
And Studio Image Hair and Beauty Salon, also on 120 St in Surrey, was rated "High-Risk" in June after another critical violation -- that it wasn't using the right cleaning solution for its tools.
The manager told CTV News she has since cleaned up.
Day knows that looks can be deceiving. Meanwhile, she's left with a scar.
"I've not been to a facial since. I won't go," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Renu Bakshi and Jon Woodward
