Recently, for the first time in Scotland, new legislation has been approved to monitor the activities of the medical practitioners offering non-surgical aesthetic treatments like Botox, dermal fillers, teeth whitening treatments etc. at the privately operated cosmetic clinics. In order to operate, these clinics now need to have registration with the healthcare inspecting body.
According to this legislation, the medical professionals are required to register their independent aesthetic clinics by April 2017 with the Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and will be subjected to the regular inspection by the authority.
This move has been welcomed by the practitioners, as a one step forward towards safety of the clients opting for the non-surgical cosmetic procedures. But they have also cleared that it has failed to target the non-medical people and beauticians who have no training or experience that is required for performing cosmetic procedures.
Dr. Simon Ravichandran, who is a president and a founder of the Association of Scottish Aesthetic Practitioners, said that this has raised concerns among the professional, trained and experienced circle of the cosmetic practitioners and surgeons because these new measures have failed to extend their reach to the unregistered and non-medical people offering these treatments.
Their concerns are valid as till 2017 it would be necessary for the professional aesthetic healthcare providers to get registered with the regulatory authority while it would be not an offense for the beauty therapists or any other nonmedical professional to operate an independent aesthetic clinic.
According to Simon Ravichandran, who is a trained ear, nose and throat surgeon and operates a private cosmetic clinic in Glasgow, also mentioned that though the inspection of the aesthetic clinics is a great initial step but there is first a need to check the educational and training background of the people performing these treatments. Just having a medical, dental & nursing degree is not a required qualification for performing these treatments or as well as getting a full or half-day aesthetic training course without any medical background is not enough to provide training or skills to perform cosmetic treatments.
So there is a need to properly regulate and monitor the cosmetic industry and the first step should be to keep a check on the qualifications and training of the people and practitioners offering non-surgical cosmetic treatments which is necessary to ensure the safety and protection of the public.
The Healthcare Improvement Scotland spokesman made it clear that the regulation will focus on ensuring the safety, effectiveness and high quality of healthcare for those who use independent clinics as well as for those who access independent cosmetic clinics all across Scotland.
The regulation has increased the focus and burden of regulations on the already regulated community of practitioners and doctors rather than identifying the un-regulated community of non-professionals and beauty therapists who are offering non-surgical cosmetic treatments including botulinum toxin and dermal fillers at their unregulated practices. The regulatory authorities should also consider distinguishing the somewhat trained from the completely untrained ones who currently are performing non-surgical cosmetic procedures without any of the burden of these new regulations. Though this first phase towards the regulation of independent cosmetic clinics is a good step but it should follow the check and balance which should be exercised on those performing cosmetic procedures across the board for more effective and safe outcomes.
We use cookies to give you the most relevant experience, Cookie Policy.