Two Thirds of Cosmetic Injection Providers Are Not Doctors

At least two thirds of people administering cosmetic injectables in the UK are not qualified medical doctors. This is according to a new study published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery.

‘Well-documented’ challenges are going unaddressed

To inform the study, researchers from University College London (UCL) looked at 3,000 websites offering cosmetic injectable services – including Botox and dermal fillers.

Of the practitioners identified, 32% were doctors, 13% were nurses, 24% were dentists and 8% were dental nurses. There were also a number of non-health professionals offering cosmetic injections, like beauticians.

Dr David Zargaran, who co-authored the study, said that the range of backgrounds represented “opens a broader question related to competence and consent”.

He went on to say that while challenges in the cosmetic injectables market are “well-documented”, they have largely gone “unaddressed”. This is something that many experts have put down to the uncertainty surrounding who is carrying out these procedures.

Difficulty in regulating the cosmetic injectables market

The UK cosmetic injectables market is predicted to reach a value of £11.7 billion by 2026 , according to researchers at UCL. But despite this, the industry is still largely unregulated.

Dr Zargaran said: “Without knowledge of the professional backgrounds of practitioners, we cannot adequately regulate the industry.”

It is hoped that the data collected by researchers at UCL will help to inform regulators and patients, so we can move towards a safer and more transparent cosmetic injectables market.

But to do this, the government must ensure that practitioners who are granted a licence to deliver cosmetic injections have the skills and experience needed to administer the treatment safely.

Public consultation on the industry set for August 2023

The UK government is currently preparing to update its policy around cosmetic injectables. It’s expected that a public consultation on the industry will begin in August 2023. And the recommendations made will hopefully inform amendments to the Medical Act in 2024.

Professor Julie Davies, co-author of the UCL study, highlighted the importance of policy reform. She said the study’s findings should be “a wake-up call for legislators to implement effective regulation and professional standards to safeguard patients”.

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