Many medical practitioners are concerned that in light of the July 4 general election, the progress towards a regulated aesthetics industry may now be shelved.
According to Dr Natalie Haworth, a medical doctor and clinician, and the owner of The Doctor and Company, the UK’s aesthetics sector is a ticking time bomb that will only be controlled if it becomes regulated. The call to action comes following Dr Haworth questioning the ethics behind Katie Price advertising a high-risk procedure to her followers, the significant measure of 500ml could have resulted in a pulmonary embolism that may have travelled up to her lungs and killed her.
Dr Haworth, who worked in the NHS for several years before setting up her own aesthetics brand, called for the UK’s government to clamp down on the sector, with the mix of influencers and non-medically trained practitioners pushing treatments on social media particularly a cause for concern. “If a loved one was to die from a treatment, who is to blame? The influencer who is being paid or given free treatments and posts without warning of the risks? The unregulated practitioner? The government? I’m regulated by the general medical council, so my patients know that should a complication occur, my background in medicine and surgery gives me the skills to manage this. Patients can be reassured that if they’re unhappy with anything, they could go to my regulatory body and I could be struck off and potentially even go to prison,” Dr Haworth explained.
Globally, the aesthetics industry is worth £45.5 billion, with the UK taking a huge share of that at £3.6 billion. As more and more clinics open, and in a world of social media, the sector is rapidly expanding. This leads to ethical and moral implications, particularly around vulnerable or younger consumers who may not realise the sector is unregulated.
“I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’m calling on the next government to listen to our concerns, for me to show MPs some of the terrifying stories of when things do go wrong and why the government needs to see what a ticking time bomb and outright scandal it is that regulation isn’t even being talked about,” Dr Haworth said.
She acknowledged that the current government has completed a consultation that closed October 2023, but this will not come into play until October 2025; “they need to speed that process up or something could happen in the meantime”.
This should also cover the use of marketing and social media and exploitative pricing strategies, with clear legal frameworks in place.
“Of course, there are thousands of practitioners out there who do amazing work and can change patients’ lives. There should be a standard that anyone practicing aesthetics should be a medical professional with a regulatory body; this would increase the integrity and quality of the aesthetics sector and reassure patients that there is comeback if things were to go wrong. “Many people may think of aesthetic treatments as casual and akin to getting your nails or lashes done, and this is encouraged by the fact that beauticians who do not have a medical background can then move on to providing aesthetics to often the same customers they already have. But I also treat patients for conditions that have plagued them all of their lives, the thought of someone in that vulnerable position being potentially misled that their practitioner is medically trained when they are not is concerning. If the new government doesn’t continue the movement towards regulation, it will become a national scandal,” Dr Haworth concluded.
According to Dr Natalie Haworth, a medical doctor and clinician, and the owner of The Doctor and Company, the UK’s aesthetics sector is a ticking time bomb that will only be controlled if it becomes regulated. The call to action comes following Dr Haworth questioning the ethics behind Katie Price advertising a high-risk procedure to her followers, the significant measure of 500ml could have resulted in a pulmonary embolism that may have travelled up to her lungs and killed her.
Dr Haworth, who worked in the NHS for several years before setting up her own aesthetics brand, called for the UK’s government to clamp down on the sector, with the mix of influencers and non-medically trained practitioners pushing treatments on social media particularly a cause for concern. “If a loved one was to die from a treatment, who is to blame? The influencer who is being paid or given free treatments and posts without warning of the risks? The unregulated practitioner? The government? I’m regulated by the general medical council, so my patients know that should a complication occur, my background in medicine and surgery gives me the skills to manage this. Patients can be reassured that if they’re unhappy with anything, they could go to my regulatory body and I could be struck off and potentially even go to prison,” Dr Haworth explained.
Globally, the aesthetics industry is worth £45.5 billion, with the UK taking a huge share of that at £3.6 billion. As more and more clinics open, and in a world of social media, the sector is rapidly expanding. This leads to ethical and moral implications, particularly around vulnerable or younger consumers who may not realise the sector is unregulated.
“I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’m calling on the next government to listen to our concerns, for me to show MPs some of the terrifying stories of when things do go wrong and why the government needs to see what a ticking time bomb and outright scandal it is that regulation isn’t even being talked about,” Dr Haworth said.
She acknowledged that the current government has completed a consultation that closed October 2023, but this will not come into play until October 2025; “they need to speed that process up or something could happen in the meantime”.
This should also cover the use of marketing and social media and exploitative pricing strategies, with clear legal frameworks in place.
“Of course, there are thousands of practitioners out there who do amazing work and can change patients’ lives. There should be a standard that anyone practicing aesthetics should be a medical professional with a regulatory body; this would increase the integrity and quality of the aesthetics sector and reassure patients that there is comeback if things were to go wrong. “Many people may think of aesthetic treatments as casual and akin to getting your nails or lashes done, and this is encouraged by the fact that beauticians who do not have a medical background can then move on to providing aesthetics to often the same customers they already have. But I also treat patients for conditions that have plagued them all of their lives, the thought of someone in that vulnerable position being potentially misled that their practitioner is medically trained when they are not is concerning. If the new government doesn’t continue the movement towards regulation, it will become a national scandal,” Dr Haworth concluded.
