24-Year-Old Salon Employee Dies In A Cryotherapy Chamber

In recent shocking and sad news, Chelsea Ake-Salvacion, a 24-year-old aesthetician, was found frozen to death inside a cryotherapy chamber — after being trapped in the machine for approximately 10 hours last week, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Few details are known as to how she came to be locked inside the chamber at Las Vegas salon and cryotherapy center Rejuvenice Cryotherapy (where she worked), but according to a local coroner's report, Ake-Salvacion died in a matter of seconds. Whole-body cryotherapy, one of the primary procedures Rejuvenice offers, exposes patients to temperatures as low as -240 degrees Fahrenheit, with the promise of various health benefits to follow. On a cosmetic level, cryotherapy is intended to rejuvenate and detox patients while boosting circulation and thwarting the effects of aging. Many athletes, including LeBron James, partake for the sake of muscle recovery and pain reduction. The list of cryotherapy's applications goes on, and the practice is only increasing in popularity. Theoretically, the process of cryotherapy is so controlled that it's rarely considered unsafe — patients who have worn wet socks inside of the chamber have reportedly sustained blisters on their feet, but that's about it. According to Rejuvenice's website, measures are taken to ensure that the doors to chambers never lock, and that patients have the freedom to stop the therapy at any time. It has been noted, though, that cryotherapy is largely intended for people in peak physical condition. Not much is known about how it affects people in less-than-optimal health. Ake-Salvacion's autospy has yet to be completed, and the coroner who examined her body is (quite accurately) calling her death a "freak accident."