Government pledges to launch campaign against botched injectables
The Department of Health (DoH) has announced it will launch a campaign aimed at tackling poorly administered cosmetic procedures, particualrly botulinum toxin and filler in the coming weeks.
The issue was raised on Victoria Derbyshire's BBC programme this morning where it was said that the campaign will address the number of procedures that go wrong, the impact on mental health, plus the cost to the NHS of fixing problems. The dangers of self-administered filler kits, sold online, were also highlighted. Representative from the DoH claimed it was also being launched due to the growing number of people going overseas for surgery.
The programme also revealed the results of an online poll of 1,000 women aged 18-30 carried out by the BBC. This showed that almost half of people now think having a cosmetic procedure is just like having a haircut, while a similar number (45%) think it is too easy to get cosmetic procedures in Britain. It also showed that 66% of women aged 18-30 have either had or would consider getting a cosmetic procedure, with botox and lip fillers the most popular.
83% said they would change something about their appearance if money and health were not a concern. Of those, six out of 10 would change their stomach, over half their breasts, four out of 10 their bum, and 15% would change their vagina.
Of those who have had a procedure, 77% were happy with how it went but only 52% said they felt more attractive.
Speaking on the programme, cosmetic doctor Dr Shirin Lakhani said anecdotally that she’s seen a big increase in 16 year olds being brought in for lip fillers by their mums.
Drs Nick Lowe and Tijan Esho also appeared on the programme calling for dermal fillers to become a prescription-only medicine like botulinum toxin is.
In other news the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners(JCCP) Executive Committee today invited the industry to back a new petition that is currently being reveiwed to make fillers prescription only, meaning that, like Botox, the products used in dermal fillers could only be prescribed by medics and would no longer be able to be recommended directly by beauty therapists.
