Call for tighter controls on cut-price Botox and fillers after clients left scarred

Experts warn new government plans to stop Scotland’s “Botox bandits” cashing in on the £400 million unregulated beauty industry must go much further.

Campaigners say while planned new restrictions are a good first step, much more needs to be done to protect the public from the increasing number of botched procedures caused by untrained practitioners.

A hard-hitting Sunday Post campaign has repeatedly called for sweeping changes and tough regulation to prevent the sale and use of potentially fatal and dangerous treatments and procedures.

Criminals cashing in on ‘Botox’

We revealed that hardened criminals and chancers are cashing in with huge profits being made despite the devastating harm caused by counterfeit treatments masquerading as Botox and dermal fillers. Competition is so fierce whistleblowers campaigning to regulate the business have been threatened with being fire-bombed.

Last week, Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan welcomed government proposals to improve safety standards which will include local government licensing for practitioners and qualified healthcare professionals supervising injectables.

He said: “Although it’s been a long time coming, it is welcome to see the Scottish Government acting upon concerns.

“It has been widely reported how dangerous it can be if procedures are botched – in some cases, it has sadly been fatal. Case studies show how invasive and technical some treatments are, and why ensuring practitioners are qualified and insured to administer them is vital.”

But award-winning aesthetic medical doctor Ben Taylor-Davies from Edinburgh said: “Whilst it’s good to finally see the government taking the issue of regulation seriously, myself and colleagues had hoped this would go even further.

“Implementing requirements for clinical premises and medical oversights will go some way to protect the public from unnecessary harm. However in doing so the government is highlighting that it is aware these treatments should be seen as medical. This raises the question of whether non-medically trained individuals should be permitted to perform these treatments full stop.

“I, and many other colleagues, do not believe this should be the case. Those of us working within the industry hope these proposals will be put into law quickly and many of us are hopeful for even stricter regulation down the line.”

Growing concerns

Almost 3,000 people took part in a consultation process to lift the lid on the industry which has seen thousands of hairdressers and online sellers flogging “skinny jabs” and injectable treatments to boost lips and plump up ageing skin.

Hamish Dobbie, of the Scottish Medical Aesthetics Safety Group told The Sunday Post that unlicensed products streaming in from South Korea and China were attracting an “unsavoury element” to cash in with little chance of jail time.

He said: “Because these products are unlicensed and counterfeit, who knows what is in them, whether they are made in a filthy backstreet warehouse, or whether they contain harmful ingredients that could cause serious health risks.

“These products are then marketed here through social media, nail bars, even in some hairdressers where customers in some of those places are asked if they want Botox, fillers or weight-loss jabs.

“Social media is full of posts encouraging people with offers so cheap they sound hard to resist, but there are many real dangers from untrained practitioners who can cause disfigurements using products making claims that cannot be verified.

“There can be a high risk of vascular occlusion, which can lead to necrosis, tissue death and disfigurement as well as a risk of blindness if an untrained person injects near the eyes.”

Scotland has also seen cases of surgical procedures such as the controversial Brazilian butt lift and breast augmentation which carry increased risks of sepsis and other life-threatening side effects.

The new Bill regulating procedures will be published by the end of the year. Botox and injectable fillers will then need to be supervised by qualified healthcare professionals in a setting regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS)

Breast and buttock augmentation will need to be performed by a qualified healthcare professional in an HIS-regulated setting. And secondary legislation under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 will bring in licensing for procedures such as micro-needling and non-ablative laser treatments which will require licences issued by the local authority.

McMillan said: “I fully expect the Scottish Government to continue engaging with stakeholders as they seek to draft the legislation, so the right balance is struck between protecting public safety whilst also ensuring regulation is proportionate.”