Last week, the government unveiled a series of measures to regulate high-risk cosmetic procedures, aiming to protect the public from unqualified practitioners and reduce the NHS burden caused by “botched” treatments. It's a welcome measure, but one that is long overdue.
Under the new rules, only suitably qualified healthcare professionals will be permitted to perform the most dangerous procedures, including non-surgical Brazilian butt lifts. These treatments must be carried out by specialised healthcare workers in providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Other high-risk procedures, such as fillers injected into breasts or genitals, will also be prioritised under the new restrictions.
The measures follow incidents where invasive treatments were performed by untrained individuals in unsafe settings such as homes, hotels and pop-up clinics, leading to serious complications, permanent scarring and, in some cases, death. Health Minister Karin Smyth said in a statement: “The cosmetics industry has been plagued by a Wild West of dodgy practitioners and procedures. There are countless horror stories of cosmetic cowboys causing serious, catastrophic damage.”
Could ‘botched Botox’ be a thing of the past?
Lower-risk procedures, including Botox, lip fillers and facial dermal fillers, will come under a new local authority licensing system. Practitioners will need to meet strict safety, training and insurance requirements before operating legally. Breaches involving the highest-risk treatments will be subject to CQC enforcement and financial penalties.
The government also plans to introduce age restrictions, preventing under-18s from accessing high-risk cosmetic procedures unless authorised by a healthcare professional. Public consultations will be held to determine the scope of procedures covered, with priority given to regulating the most dangerous first.
Millie Kendall OBE, CEO of the British Beauty Council, welcomed the move: “Any measures that increase protection for the general public and professionalise the industry will help instil confidence… This is the first step forward in raising the reputation of our £30.4 billion industry.”
Other industry figures echoed the support. Ashton Collins, Director of Save Face, said: “We have been campaigning tirelessly for nearly 2 years… I have seen first-hand the devastating impact these procedures can have.” Professor David Sines of the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners called the proposals “imperative” for safeguarding patients. At the same time, Diane Hey of Armonia Health and Beauty described them as a “critical step” in restoring public trust.
Here's what you need to know.
Save Face, along with many other individuals and organisations, has long been highlighting the lack of regulations for aesthetic procedures. But why has it, for so long, been left unchecked? For me, it's a complex answer of neglect and misogyny. It is predominantly women who have these procedures. A global 2023 study showed that 85.1% of 2022’s 9,221,419 Botox procedures were done on women. Almost 7.9 million women received Botox injections in 2022, while only 1.370 million went to men. Of all patients getting any cosmetic procedure in 2022, 85.7% were women.
The pressure to have these procedures is rooted in patriarchy, and whilst individual women conforming to these pressures (most of us do, in some way), are not to blame, the structures do need challenging. The people administering the procedures need to have more scrutiny placed upon them, especially those who, in some cases, risk the lives of their patients.
As Naomi Wolf wrote in her seminal book The Beauty Myth: “Our society does reward beauty on the outside over health on the inside. Women must not be blamed for choosing short-term beauty ‘fixes’ that harm our long-term health, since our life spans are inverted under the beauty myth, and there is no great social or economic incentive for women to live a long time…if public discourse were really concerned with women's health, it would turn angrily upon this aspect of the beauty myth.”
There has been such a vast normalisation of serious surgery or procedures in society, in a way that only happens in the cosmetics and aesthetics space. Any medical procedure, for health reasons, is not taken as lightly. But fillers, especially Botox and lip injections, have become mundane due to their increasing commonality. Almost half of the women I know in their 30s have had some sort of aesthetic treatment. Myself included.
It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
The fact that it's so accessible, so normalised, and so unregulated must be because it’s primarily affecting women. This historic lack of regulation is another medical misogyny oversight, and one that I don't believe would have happened if men were the primary customer for aesthetics.
Cosmetic doctor, Dr Shirin Lakhani, tells GLAMOUR, “Women are being hugely let down by the healthcare system. Most of our understanding of health comes from the perspective of men, women are routinely underrepresented in clinical trials, which doesn’t help with research.” She added that “We need a more holistic, joined-up approach so women feel they can come and talk to professionals about a range of symptoms from incontinence to mental health to the menopause and that they will be listened to and their symptoms looked at as a whole so they can be effectively treated.”
Dr. Lakhani explains that the main problem is that women are not being listened to or taken seriously enough by medical professionals: “There is a lack of understanding when it comes to women’s health as most trials and studies are based on men or on old-fashioned ideas that don’t place women’s health on par with men’s health.”
A public consultation on the new licensing scheme will be published early next year. Until then, officials urge anyone considering cosmetic treatments to check their provider’s qualifications and insurance, and to avoid suspiciously cheap offers.
Here's what you need to know.
