Cosmetic laser treatment ‘virtually unregulated’

Posted: 08/05/2012

Michael Cadier, a member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), has declared that the field of cosmetic laser treatment is ‘virtually unregulated’. Beauty salons and clinics are performing potentially dangerous laser treatments without proper training or facilities.

BAAPS has put forward draft EU-wide standards for aesthetic surgery, which are currently being circulated to National Standards Bodies. Amongst the proposals is a plan for compulsory registration of practitioners in aesthetic medicine and lasers: currently there is only a voluntary database for clinics, rather than for actual practitioners. BAAPS argues that registration should be mandatory and managed by an independent entity such as the Care Quality Commission.

Individual doctors are regulated by the General Medical Council and their professional bodies whilst clinics come under the jurisdiction of the Care Quality Commission but the cosmetic surgery industry as a whole remains unregulated.

Cosmetic surgery patients should check the credentials of people offering procedures carefully or risk suffering at the hands of untrained and unregulated providers.  

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