It’s wedding season across Virginia. That means bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners, and, sometimes, IV infusions and energy shots for brides, grooms, and their guests, even as some experts warn that their risks outweigh their benefits. WMRA’s Christine Kueter reports.
It’s been a more than a month since Charlottesville’s DRIPBaR was temporarily shuttered after being raided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Virginia State Police. Though the reason for its closure isn’t clear, other medical spas in the region continue to offer similar services—intravenous delivery of commercially manufactured fluids infused with various vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes—at the height of one of central Virginia’s busiest times of year: wedding season.
[Sounds of wedding music and an officiant at a Rivercrest Farm & Event Center, Elkton.]
Event planner Hannah Wilson estimates that 20% of her clients seek IV infusions before or after wedding festivities to feel better, look good, or recover.
HANNAH WILSON: I had a bride who wasn’t feeling well at her rehearsal dinner . . . So, the first thing we did before her hair and makeup, she got an IV that had some great mix tailored to her symptoms, and it was really wonderful. She felt great all day, was able to party till the end of the evening. I’m sure she slept really well that night, but it really made a huge difference to how she experienced her rehearsal dinner to how she experienced her wedding day.
Those getting IVs are also careful where they get stuck.
WILSON: We get creative with the healthcare professionals. So, I did have one bride who got an IV in her foot because her dress would cover it, her shoes would cover it, but she was wearing a strapless gown and didn’t want any marks on her arms for her photos.
But it’s not just for wedding parties. IV infusions are marketed as beauty enhancers and immune system boosters, ways to up athletic performance—even improve longevity. They can even be a way build bonds, said event planner and designer Dickie Morris, of Just a Little Ditty.
DICKIE MORRIS: We had a client who was getting married in Charleston, and had a big wedding party, and, so, before her wedding, and then actually she ended up doing it after her wedding, too, they had IVs set up in a hotel room, and people could come and get one, sign up for them. Obviously, health and recovery, and all those things are super important to how people are feeling on their wedding days. Everyone approaches it differently, so, whether it’s a walk in the morning, or going and getting an IV, or a massage, I do think people are getting creative with how they’re spending their time, but also, how are they gathering beforehand. They are doing things together, and so I think there can be an element of community with this idea of, like, recovery and restoring, whether it’s before or after the wedding.
Those who take a scientific approach to health claims aren’t as convinced. Recently retired University of Virginia nursing professor Terri Yost, a UVa Health nurse practitioner, says people's perception of benefit is based on anecdotes, not data.
TERRI YOST: There is not evidence to support claims that it makes you more refreshed, that it makes you look healthier, that it makes you recover faster. Whatever your body does not need, your body will excrete, and get rid of, so it’s not like you’re getting extra. IV therapy comes with risks. Anytime you puncture the skin, there’s a risk of infection. You can get phlebitis in the vein, there’s risk of air embolism, if people are not adequately trained on performing IV therapy. Medically speaking, and from an evidence-based perspective, evidence does not outweigh the risks.
The FDA has previously sounded the alarm about drug products being compounded, or mixed, under unsanitary conditions at IV hydration clinics elsewhere in the country. But America’s consumer wellness market is worth $500 billion a year, and growing, according to a McKinsey report. Wellness-related spending is expected to top $9.8 trillion by 2029, according to the Global Wellness Institute.
The number of medical spas offering IV therapy nearly doubled between 2018 and 2023. While Virginia has yet to pass specific laws regulating them, most spas tout having registered nurses credentialed to do physical assessments and dose and titrate the bags.
One nurse, who asked that we not use her name, was a regular at Charlottesville’s DRIPBaR until it closed. She used funds in her health savings account to pay for the infusions.
“I went there, like, every week for my shot, it worked perfectly for me,” she said. “My thing was like I was just so tired, especially when I was doing rotating, like six weeks on, six weeks off, it was really hard, like, my body not really catching up. I felt such of a difference. Like, I was focused more, I had energy. That brain fog that I used to have, now I was really much alert and just, you know, doing my thing.”
Yost, though, says most people’s immune systems don’t need any extra help.
YOST: We have had the ability to fight off infection since the inception of humans, millions of years. We’ve evolved as a species, despite the fact that we’ve only had commercial use of antibiotics for roughly 75 years. We have immune systems, and it doesn’t require a special boost of vitamin C or echinacea. . . . There’s just this whole wellness culture right now. It’s an incredible money-making business. These companies do an excellent job of convincing people they need these things.
Earlier this year, the American Medical Association called on state governments to more vigorously regulate medical spas. For now, Virginia’s Boards of Medicine and Nursing require these businesses to partner with or employ an advanced practice provider to oversee prescriptions and ensure that only licensed healthcare professionals compound and administer IVs.
