Sunday July 28th 2024
Colin Beattie MSP, Midlothian North & Musselburgh, writes his monthly column for Midlothian View
The popularity of cosmetic surgery has surged in recent years, with individuals seeking procedures ranging from minimal invasive treatments to major surgical interventions. However, this demand has been accompanied by an alarming rise in unlicensed and unregulated practitioners, raising significant health risks for patients.
Currently only private clinics employing a regulated healthcare professional providing a service are regulated. This means non-regulated practitioners can carry out cosmetic surgeries in unregulated premises, leading to a significant risk to the public.
Save Face is a UK Government approved register for medical aesthetic treatment. If you are considering having cosmetic surgery, I would implore you to search their database of regulated practitioners to ensure your procedure is being carried out by a regulated clinic.
Unregulated clinics do not need to follow the same rigorous health and safety processes as regulated health professionals, which can lead to incidents of counterfeit products or even products being shared with different clients risking the spread of bloodborne diseases such as hepatitis.
Incidents of botched cosmetic surgery are continuing to rise at alarming rates. Save Face confirmed they received over 150 Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) complaints between February and April in 2024 and over half of these victims contracted the life-threatening sepsis. If this rate continues Save Face estimate, we will see a 312% increase in BBL complaints in 2024 in comparison with 2023.
Botched cosmetic surgery caused by an unregulated sector is also having a significant cost on our NHS. At a time when our NHS is under pressure, it is being relied on to pick up the pieces from non-healthcare professional botched jobs. At this time the NHS do not collect information on incidents of botched jobs, however, Save Face research found that 96% of patients who had complications post cosmetic surgery were then treated by the NHS, and 100% of these treatments were carried out by non-healthcare professionals. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons estimates a botched BBL costs the NHS an average of £15,000.
The above makes for distressing reading, and I will continue to work with colleagues across the Scottish Parliament to encourage the Scottish Government to work with healthcare professionals to protect the public from potentially life threatening unregulated cosmetic surgery. Regulations are not only needed to protect the public and the NHS, but to ensure good practitioners can continue to provide safe cosmetic surgery.
If you have been impacted or wish to share in raising awareness of any of the above, please contact
me on colin.beattie.msp@parliament.scot.
