NEED TO KNOW
Sonya Dakar’s licenses have reportedly been surrendered following a lawsuit settlement between herself and a client who accused her of scarring her face following a chemical treatment in 2021
Victoria Nelson posted a TikTok video in August 2025 detailing the damaging side effects of a treatment performed by Dakar, who she began seeing in 2019 to treat her acne
Nelson announced in December 2025 that she filed a personal lawsuit against Dakar and a complaint with the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology
Celebrity facialist Sonya Dakar reportedly surrendered her licenses after a former client, Victoria Nelson, accused her of permanently scarring her skin and paying tens of thousands of dollars for repairs.
On Wednesday, June 24, Nelson revealed that Dakar’s esthetician and establishment licenses will be surrendered to the California State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology effective July 22, 2026 under a Stipulated Surrender of License and Order. Dakar, whose Hollywood clientele have included Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore, was formerly practiced out of Beverly Hills.
According to details of the lawsuit settlement shared by Nelson in an Instagram video, Dakar has allegedly lost rights and privileges as an esthetician and establishment in the state of California. The decision also states that Dakar cannot apply for or petition for reinstatement of an esthetician license for three years from the effective date of the surrender of her licenses, per Nelson’s video.
Victoria Nelson’s skin scarring after undergoing a chemical treatment by Sonya DakarCredit: Victoria Nelson/TikTok (2)
The settlement also allegedly states that Dakar, the respondent, must pay “the agency” $17,731.25 for the cost of investigation and enforcement, in addition to paying $70,972.27 in restitution to Nelson, who is referenced as “consumer VN.”
Dakar has not publicly announced the license surrender. PEOPLE has reached out to Nelson’s attorneys and the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology for comment and has not yet heard back.
In an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, Nelson said, “I think I had braced for disappointment for so long that I didn’t quite know what to do with the alternative.” She added, “Is it what I hoped for? Yes. But, it doesn’t erase my the damage. I’m still in treatment with the dermatologist twice per week, I’m still handling the mental and emotional side of it as well. The scarring is still there every morning and so are the memories.”
In her video, Nelson said she’s “frustrated” she isn’t “going to be able to speak and tell my story or hear [Dakar’s] side of the story,” but she’s “very happy with this result.” She added, “I wish it had happened earlier in her career based on her former complaints prior to me meeting her.”
In her caption, Nelson wrote that this was “years in the making and it certainly hasn’t been easy.”
“There were moments I genuinely didn’t think anyone would listen but the Board investigated, the Attorney General prosecuted, and the settlement speaks for itself,” she continued. “It’s wild to think that I almost didn’t speak up. I stayed silent for years. First out of trust, then out of fear, then out of exhaustion. If you’re sitting on something similar— a provider who hurt you, a complaint you’ve been afraid to file, harm you’ve seen…this is your sign that the system CAN work. It’s better late than never.”
Victoria Nelson’s face after seeing Sonya Dakar for a chemical treatment in 2021Credit: Victoria Nelson/TikTok
Now, Nelson added, “My full focus goes to my civil case, more to come.”
Last August, Nelson made a TikTok video in which she claimed that a chemical peel she received from Dakar in April of 2021 left her “disfigured.” (In her recent Instagram post, Nelson also wrote that her skin still has “permanent damage.”)
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She began seeing Dakar in 2019 when she was 26 and seeking treatment for her acne. Eventually, Nelson went to Dakar for routine facials and became like “family” over the years. During that time, Nelson spent an estimated $30,000 on treatments from Dakar. However, when she received the chemical peel, Nelson recalled her skin feeling like it was “on fire.”
While she was concerned, Nelson says that Dakar assured her that “it would be fine” and that she could resolve the burns in a month of treatments. However, after 18 sessions in 2021 and 12 in 2022, some of which included “pretty aggressive micro-needling,” Nelson says she still had burns on her face.
The two have not spoken since 2023, added Nelson.
Nelson announced on Dec. 8, 2025 that she filed both a personal lawsuit against Dakar as well as a complaint with the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology “with the goal of permanent revocation of both her establishment and her estheticians license,” per the caption Nelson wrote on her TikTok. She explained that the goal of her legal action was “to be part of a solution to bring more transparency to an industry that so many young women, including myself, have put our trust [in].”
The complaint against Dakar’s establishment and her esthetician’s license, filed by the California Attorney General’s Office in partnership with Nelson and the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and reviewed by PEOPLE, additionally had information about the board’s prior interactions with Dakar, including an incident in 2008 in which she allegedly “assaulted and attacked a board inspector,” leaving the inspector “unable to complete the inspection,” but did not involve Nelson. The complaint also notes that the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology revoked Dakar’s license in 2011 and placed the esthetician on three years of probation.
Nelson’s personal lawsuit “asserts claims for fraud, unfair competition, unlawful business practices, unlicensed practice of medicine, as well as for punitive damages, in excess of $35,000.”
Nelson’s civil case is ongoing. She tells PEOPLE, “The Board’s process was about making sure she couldn’t do this to anyone else. The civil process is about what I’m owed. I intend to see both through.”
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