A government review into non-surgical beauty treatments has found that the lack of regulations around Botox and fillers in the UK is leaving victims ‘scarred for life’, after paying for procedures from unqualified practitioners.
The year-long review by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing was published today, with Labour MP Carolyn Harris – who co-chaired the inquiry – stating there’s a ‘complete absence’ of regulation.
‘It's like the Wild West,’ she said. ‘We have people who are selling training courses which are not worth the paper they are written on. We have practitioners who are destroying the industry's reputation by practising completely unqualified and we have victims who are scarred for life.’
Experts have been raising concerns about the lack of regulation in non-surgical beauty treatments for years. Most recently, a BBC Three documentary found that aesthetic procedures are being taught online and over unsafe one-day courses. Aesthetic training courses are almost entirely unregulated in the UK, despite the fact beauty procedures like filler and Botox can cause serious complications if not carried out properly.
Earlier this year, UK plastic surgeons reported a 70% rise in consultation requests in 2020 alone, with most demand centering on Botox and fillers. Despite swarms of people – mostly women, we might add – jumping to have facial tweakments done, the government have completely failed to regulate the exploding industry, the review states.
MPs chairing the inquiry have thus suggested 17 recommendations the government must implement to better protect people choosing to undergo non-surgical procedures. Such recommendations include introducing mandatory training for all practitioners, setting up a national licensing system to ensure premises meet certain hygiene requirements, and mandatory psychological screenings before procedures take place (in order to understand a person’s motivation and spot those at risk of serious self-esteem issues).
They have also suggested extending age-requirements on invasive treatments like thread lifts, which are already in place for Botox or fillers for under-18s. Of course, while the industry is so unregulated that people can easily claim to be practitioners despite a lack of real qualification, it’s hard to know just how often age-restrictions are enforced.
Social media platforms were also analysed as part of the review, finding that they have driven demand for treatments and become a huge platform for selling them – with MPs stating the platforms must take responsibility for misleading advertisements that put victims in positions to receive treatments from unqualified people.
While experts fear the government will continue to ignore the calls for better regulation, the Department for Health and Social Care have stated that they will review the report's recommendations.
‘Patients must always come first, and I am committed to protecting their safety, making sure people have the right information they need to make informed decisions about cosmetic surgery and ensuring the highest quality training is accessible to all practitioners,’ patient safety minister Nadine Dorries told the BBC.
Read More:
Everything You Need To Know About Getting Botox Before Your Wedding