A Henderson, Nevada, cryotherapy center manager froze to death inside one of the business’s freezing chambers, according to local news station KSNV.
The frozen body of Chelsea Ake, 24, was discovered by a fellow employee last Tuesday at Rejuvenice, a beauty salon that specializes in cryotherapy, the deep-freezing beauty and medical treatments.
Nevada’s Occupational and Safety Health Administration told KSNV that Ake was in the chamber for at least 10 hours before she was found and may have suffocated by inhaling the cooling nitrogen gases emitted into the chamber.
Medical examiners told Ake’s family that she likely died within “seconds,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The body of Ake, a Hawaii native, appeared “frozen in solid ice” and had “blue” skin, family members told reporters.
Posted by Chels Ake on Saturday, 19 September 2015
Rejuvenice advertises cryotherapy treatments on its website that use two types of machines: a single-person device known as the “Cryosauna,” which “envelopes a patient’s body while keeping the head and neck area … above the device,” and the “Cryochamber,” a “multi-person walk-in device that exposes the patient’s entire body to hyper-cooled room-air.”
It is unclear which machine Ake was using. The website says doors on all of Rejuvenice’s machines never lock, “which allows clients to stop treatment instantaneously at any time.”
“All Rejuvenice employees undergo very strict and rigorous training,” the cryotherapy centersaid in a statement. “Our cryochambers are never locked and guests and employees are always supervised during the entirety of the treatment to ensure their safety.”
Some Rejuvenice employees told Albert Ake, the dead woman’s uncle, that it was common for spa employees to use the chambers with no supervision, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Rejuvenice did not immediately return The Huffington Post’s request for comment.
State OSHA officials said they won’t investigate Ake’s death because she was using the chamber for “personal use outside of business hours.”
Posted by Rejuvenice Henderson on Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Pictured above: A cryotherapy chamber, as shared by Rejuvenice Henderson’s Facebook page.
Two days after Ake’s body was discovered, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published an article that featured Ake’s comments about the benefits of a cryotherapy facial treatment.
Cryofacials, according to the article, use liquid nitrogen to chill the face and “reduce pore size, remove wrinkles, stimulate collagen production, improve skin elasticity and blood flow and brighten dark spots.”
“We like to do the cryofacial [after hydrafacials] because it helps seal everything in,” Ake said in the Las Vegas Review-Journal article.
Cryohealthcare, the company that makes the cryotherapy chambers, claims that the exposure to extreme cold can improve a number of conditions, including psychological stress, rheumatism, and muscle and joint pain.
“Industry protocol is that no person may ever undergo treatment in any whole body Cryotherapy machine alone or unsupervised … A thoroughly trained operator must be present at the control panel at all times during treatment,” a Cryohealthcare representative told The Huffington Post.
LeBron James, Lindsay Lohan and Mandy Moore are part of the growing number of athletes and celebrities who have added the freezing treatments to their health regimens.
Ake’s autopsy was scheduled for Monday. Lab results won’t be ready for six to eight weeks.
Nevada officials ordered all Rejuvenice locations to shut down afterdiscovering that the company was not licensed to perform cosmetic procedures, according to The Associated Press.
