Healthcare professionals are campaigning in a variety of ways to stop non-medics such as beauty therapists from injecting fillers, including a new petition on Change.org titled “Stop beauty therapists injecting Botox and fillers”.
The petition, which had reached 2,635 signatures by the time PB went to print, was launched by a group of healthcare professionals, who stated: “Medical interventions are required when both of these treatments go wrong, requiring immediate access to prescription medication such as steroids and adrenaline.”
Meanwhile, register Save Face has withdrawn from working with the Joint Council of Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP) – an independent regulatory body for the cosmetic medicine sector led by the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN) and the British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM) – on its proposed register because the council has agreed to allow beauty therapists to sit on its board and input into the parameters of the register.
The JCCP had not proposed that therapists be allowed to join the register, but Save Face chose to withdraw support on the grounds that this may happen if therapists joined the board. “The idea of a register that would be inclusive of nonregulated practitioners is contrary to our fundamental principles; that non-regulated healthcare practitioners should not be providing these services to the public,” Save Face said in a statement.
The injectables debate was reignited at the start of the year, when aesthetic nurses put forward a motion that they have “no confidence” in beauty therapists providing facial cosmetic injectable medicines. This was debated at the National Aesthetic Nursing Conference and resulted in a unanimous vote where 100% of delegates agreed they had no confidence in non-health groups injecting.
The debate was met with mixed reactions form the beauty industry. Holly Cody, owner of Holly Elizabeth Beauty salon, commented: “How is a therapist, who has studied the skin, blood and muscles systems for two years, any less [capable] than a pharmacist who has been on a short course? I’ve had lip fillers by a GP and they went terribly wrong – ruined my confidence. Yet, I see the work of therapists who pay so much attention to detail.”
Katrina Demetrious, beauty therapist and personal trainer, said: “I’ve had training for the use of dermaroller, mesotherapy and peels, and have studied botox and fillers, but can only use them with clinically trained people. I’ve been training for the last seven years and will continue to do so to keep up with what I enjoy.”