A beauty treatment expert has urged the Government to regulate the UK’s £3billion aesthetics industry which has seen a massive surge in unlicensed operatives.
A survey by Save Face, a national register of accredited practitioners, found 83 per cent of complications from non-surgical procedures were due to treatments performed by rogue specialists.
And Vanessa Brown, head of sales and marketing in the UK for US-based health laser business Erchonia, warned: “These unlicensed practitioners are putting the lives of their clients at risk.”
And the 28-year-old added: “The Government has to step in quickly before things get out of hand.
“Treatments, including fillers and chemical peels, are fuelling a dangerous and unregulated scenario.
“It’s like the Wild West out there right now with cheap products, including copycats of weight-loss medications and technologies sold online to naïve consumers.
“We must move fast to align ourselves with tougher laws in Europe and especially the US.”
In 2021, the NHS reported treating more than a thousand patients with complications from botched cosmetic procedures, costing the healthcare system millions of pounds.
European countries with stricter regulations, such as Germany and France, have seen a 30 per cent reduction in adverse incidents relating to non-surgical cosmetic treatments, according to the European Society of Aesthetic Surgery.
Ms Brown added: “We have licensed and unlicensed practitioners doing the same work, with widely varying safeguards.
“Shockingly, some practitioners, both medics and non-medics, attend a one-day course and start practising, treating it as no more than a side business to bring in extra money. This is insufficient to handle the complexities and risks involved.
“Doctors, dentists and nurses spend years qualifying to work with our bodies, but many in my industry deliver injections and other beauty ‘tweakments’ with no prior training or certification, and their clients can pay thousands, often putting themselves at risk.”
And Ms Brown said: “The Care Quality Commission regulates some parts of the UK aesthetics industry, like surgical procedures, but has no say in what’s classed as ‘non-invasive’ treatments, like minor injectables, needling, and chemical peels.
“Migrating lip fillers are a common concern. Filled lips also naturally expand, and the skin often won’t go back, so the client will always need some form of filler. Worst case scenario? They need cosmetic surgery to reduce the skin to normal dimensions.
“The other concern is whether an unlicensed practitioner will know if a procedure is going wrong and have the right knowledge and drugs to counteract it.
“We hold emergency drugs because we’re a regulated clinic.”