'Cosmetic crisis' waiting to happen

Injections to plump up the skin are a "crisis waiting to happen" and should be available only on prescription, a UK review of cosmetic procedures has said.

It warned that dermal fillers, covered by only the same level of regulation as toothbrushes, could cause lasting harm.
The independent review added cosmetic surgery had been "trivialised". It also attacked "distasteful" companies for putting profit ahead of care.
The review has recommended a series of measures to better protect patients.
It was commissioned by the Department of Health in England, but the findings will be passed to health ministers throughout the UK.
From fillers to breast implants - the cosmetic procedures industry is booming. It was worth £750m in the UK in 2005, £2.3bn in 2010 and is forecast to reach £3.6bn by 2015.
But there is considerable concern that regulations have failed to keep pace - leaving patients vulnerable.

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Anybody, anywhere, anytime can give a filler to anybody else, and that is bizarre”

Sir Bruce Keogh NHS Medical Director

The biggest growth is in non-surgical procedures such as fillers to tackle wrinkles, Botox and laser hair removal - the area the report describes as "almost entirely unregulated".

The advisory panel said the procedures, which could go horribly wrong, were being treated as casually as having highlights done at a lunchtime hairdresser's appointment and had become commonplace at "beauty parties".

Former beauty clinic manager Sarah Payne recalls how a dermal filler treatment went badly wrong

Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS medical director for England who led the review, said: "The most striking thing is that anybody, anywhere, anytime can give a filler to anybody else, and that is bizarre."
At a European level, both medical devices such as breast implants and Botox, which is classed as a medicine, are regulated.
Fillers are deemed to have no medical purpose so are regulated in the same way as toothbrushes and ball-point pens. There are 190 different fillers available in Europe compared with just 14 in the US.


Comment:

Fortunately that these cosmetics are going bad. There were very superficial.