Mole or skin tag? Small claims tribunal orders refund after beauty clinic owner found to be practicing medicine illegally

A B.C. beauty clinic is being ordered to provide a refund to a client after finding that the “skin tag” removal services that they offered constituted unlicensed medical practice. The client had launched a small claims suit against Damy Tan (also known as Chrstina Sun), owner of the White Rock Skin And Laser Clinic in the Vancouver area. She alleged that Tan overcharged her, failed to deliver on the service that was promised and was practicing medicine illegally.The client had gone to the clinic for a treatment in September 2024 to get several brown bumps on her face and scalp removed and subsequently paid a total of $6,004.14. However, the treatment failed to remove any of the marks and she had to get them removed by an actual physician—Dr. Albert Lamprecht—the following December.Dr. Lamprecht told the client via email that she had three seborrheic keratosis scalp lesions, two benign moles on her left cheek, two benign moles on her right temple, one benign mole on her chin and two benign moles on her lower back. However, he found that Tan’s clinic failed to remove any of the moles or lesions but one. Dr. Lamprecht also only charged $695 for the surgical removal procedure and said he thought the initial $6,000 charge was excessive.Tan testified that the client agreed to all of the charges and insisted that the procedures that were performed were to remove “skin tags” and “lesions,” rather than “moles.” Under B.C. legislation, estheticians and aesthetic technicians are only allowed to remove skin tags with non-surgical methods, while mole removal can only be done by a physician. Ultimately, the Civil Resolution Tribunal wasn’t convinced, and agreed that Tan and the clinic staff were practicing medicine illegally, thus rendering the entire contract unenforceable. This isn’t the first time Tan has ran into legal trouble for her mole removal services. In 2017, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) obtained a court injunction ordering her to stop performing mole removal services or charging for their removal. She and her clinic were also subsequently added to the CPSBC’s list of unauthorized practitioners.“I accept Dr. Lamprecht’s opinion, contained in his email, that most of the applicant’s marks were moles. This is consistent with my review of the photos as a layperson. I find the respondent’s attempt to label them as ‘lesions’ or ‘skin tags’ is an attempt to avoid the injunction against the respondent’s unlawful practice of medicine,” the tribunal wrote in their Oct. 7, 2026 decision.As a result, Tan has been ordered to issue a refund of $5,000 (the maximum allowed under the small claims monetary limit) and pay $175 in tribunal fees.

Mole or skin tag? Small claims tribunal orders refund after beauty clinic owner found to be practicing medicine illegally

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