Getty ImagesCosmetic procedures such as fillers, Botox and Brazilian butt lifts are taking place in public toilets, hotel rooms and other “shocking locations” in Britain, officials have warned.
People’s lives “are being put at risk every single day” by the lack of regulation in the industry, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) says, as it called for urgent action to set up a licensing scheme.
It has also uncovered unsafe fillers and fat-dissolving injections being sold online.
The Department for Health and Social Care says the government is looking into new regulations to protect people.
Getty ImagesKerry Nicol, external affairs manager at the CTSI, said she was “genuinely shocked by the scale of potential harm facing the public due to the alarming lack of regulation in the aesthetic industry”.
She added that “action is urgently needed” to crack down on “bad players operating in this sector” and a cross-government approach was required.
The priority is giving the public a clear indication of who is qualified to carry out these procedures, Ms Nicol said.
Trading standards officials said they were particularly worried about young people getting injections, because finding practitioners who checked for the minimum age of 18 was a “postcode lottery”.
Their advice is always to:
- check the qualifications of those advertising cosmetic procedures
- be wary of practitioners who advertise and operate through social media
- do not buy products to inject at home
Trading standards officials are also concerned about fillers being sold online for as little as £20 and fat loss injections, such as Lemon Bottle, which have no “regulatory oversight” in the UK.
Earlier this month, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported a number of people had suffered adverse side-effects after being injected with suspected counterfeit botox.
Officials are also worried about consumers undergoing fat injections, such as liquid BBLs (Brazilian butt lifts), which involve injecting filler into the buttocks to lift them and make them look bigger or more rounded.
The procedure is very risky and can cause serious side-effects such as blood clots and sepsis.
In September last year, 33-year-old Alice Webb is believed to have died after suffering complications from having a liquid BBL in Gloucestershire.
As it stands, you do not need a licence to perform cosmetic procedures in England, but this could change if an amendment brought forward in 2022 is passed by parliament.
The government has previously suggested making changes to the Health and Care Act, which would bring in a scheme to protect consumers from unlicensed practitioners.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “People’s lives are being put at risk by inadequately trained operators in the cosmetic sector, which is why the government is looking into new regulations to protect people.
“The safety of patients is paramount and we urge anyone considering cosmetic procedures to consider the possible health impacts and find a reputable, insured and qualified practitioner.”
To improve safety for consumers, the Scottish government announced plans in May to regulate aesthetic treatments.
There are currently no plans to do the same in Northern Ireland and Wales.
Ashton Collins, director at Save Face, which provides a register of accredited practitioners, said her organisation had been campaigning “to ban liquid BBLs from the high street”.
She added: “We are focused on reinforcing existing legislation that has long failed to protect patients from unscrupulous practitioners who continue to flaunt the law with impunity.
“For too long, regulations intended to safeguard patients have been inadequately policed and enforced.”
