Cosmetic surgery will continue to be the wild west of medicine, say professional bodies, because of the government's failure to bring in the controls recommended by its own NHS medical director.
Plastic surgeons say they are appalled by the government's response, which stops short of the regulation suggested by Sir Bruce Keogh's report into cosmetic surgery. It does not clamp down heavily on the use of dermal fillers – substances injected under the skin, usually to plump out the face. Nor does it require that anybody involved in cosmetic procedures is properly trained, qualified and registered.
"Frankly, we are no less than appalled at the lack of action taken – this review, not the first one conducted into the sector, represents yet another thoroughly wasted opportunity to ensure patient safety," said Rajiv Grover, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
"With all the evidence provided by the clinical community, choosing not to reclassify fillers as medicines with immediate effect or setting up any kind of compulsory register beggars belief. Legislators have clearly been paying only lip service to the sector's dire warnings that dermal fillers are a crisis waiting to happen.
