Photo: CTV News

Danielle Nadeau says a laser hair removal treatment left her with cheetah-like marks on her legs and bikini area.

An exotic dancer has filed a civil lawsuit against a popular Vancouver spa after claiming a laser hair removal treatment left her with white cheetah-like marks all over her legs and bikini area.

“I honestly would not wish this on anyone, it’s been such a horrible five months,” said Danielle Nadeau.

Tired of shaving and waxing for her job, she decided to get a series of laser hair removal sessions done at Ideal Image MedSpa, reports CTV Vancouver.

“It always kind of feels like a rubber band being snapped, that’s what most people equate it to. I was used to that, I expected that. And this time it just was incessant pain the entire time, and at one point I was biting my fist,” Nadeau said.

She says she complained, but the person performing the procedure didn’t seem concerned. She left the spa with her legs feeling swollen and hot. “I said to my partner, it feels like I'm standing in boiling oil. I have never had this experience.”

Over the next few days, hundreds of welts began to appear. “At first it was just a bunch of red nickel-sized dots all over my legs, and they were puffed up and tender and it hurt,” said Nadeau. “Eventually, over time those flaked off, and now I'm left with hypo-pigmented white dots all over my legs and my Brazilian area.”

Nadeau says the marks are hard to hide with make-up, and they’re impacting her job. - She has hired a lawyer, suing the spa in civil court for lost wages and general damages.

In a statement, Ideal MedSpa says: “We are looking into what happened in this specific case, will respond through the court process and are committed to resolving this matter.”

She says she wishes she‘d done more research before committing to laser hair removal and hopes her story gives other women pause, adding that “shaving is better than scars.”

- With files from CTV Vancouver