Is the Government doing enough to regulate injectable cosmetic procedures?

Is the Government doing enough to regulate injectable cosmetic procedures?

Professionals are disappointed that the Goverment's new rulings on non-invasive cosmetic surgery make no attempt to legislate fillers or introduce a compulsory register

    

Is the Government doing enough to regulate injectables?

When Sir Bruce Keogh was enlisted by the Government to review cosmetic surgery last year, (triggered by the PIP implant scandal), it was the news that the responsible professionals working within the industry were waiting for.

Keogh's committee findings, published in April 2013, were that cosmetic surgery needed better regulation - including all dermal fillers to become prescription only - better training, and proper redress if things go wrong. What the industry then awaited was statutory enforcement of training, accreditation and registration.
It was the turn of the Government to take action, and today The Department of Health issued its statement on exactly what that would be. Or did they?
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That same expectant group of professionals, most notably those represented by The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) and The British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (BABTAC), is rather underwhelmed.
"The announcement today has left an element of disappointment, with a feeling that the Government is sitting on the fence due to budget concerns rather than grasping the full opportunity to make a difference," says Carolyne Cross, chairwoman of BABTAC.
The Government has stood back - it hasn't introduced compulsory training, accreditation or registration, and it hasn't classifed injectables as a medicine. BAAPS say it is appalled, "legislators have clearly been paying lip service to this sector's dire warnings" says president Rajiv Grover.
Concerned that the government would trivialise the need for regulation non-invasive cosmetic procedures over plastic surgery - which of course is already regulated by the General Medical Council - the BAD did their own research. It found that 63 per cent of complications their dermatologists saw from botched non-invasive cosmetic work was irreversible, while BAAPS revealed that two out of three surgeons were seeing patients with facial injectable complications. The vital action needed they say is legislation "which we all believe is necessary for public safety," said a spokesperson.
"Whilst the response makes the right noises in terms of endorsing key recommendations there is little to demonstrate how these recommendations might be thoroughly implemented or robustly enforced, particularly in respect to non-surgical cosmetic interventions," added the BAD, who is particularly worried about the idea of an 'opt in' register for practitioners in the field - both medical and non-medical. It argues that such a register will put more responsibility in the hands of the patient.
Plus, it says, "the public will be prey to a two-tier system; good practice by well qualified professionals on one level, a level that will almost certainly cost the consumer more, and a cut-price, budget approach provided by untrained practitioners with little consideration of risk and redress for complications on the other, lower, level. Such a system is unlikely to address the concerns raised in the original review around unregulated cosmetic interventions."
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"BABTAC has been involved in the Review process and whilst we appreciate the scope of the issues is huge, the recommendations by Keogh were right for the industry," Cross goes on. "We had hoped to see a great step forward today, in terms of making non-invasive cosmetic procedures safer for the public. We have instead seen a very small step forward. We will now work to do our best to make sure that, where we can, these procedures are made safer across the sector," says consultant dermatologist, Tamara Griffiths.