As of the 1st October 2021 new legislations make it illegal for any practitioner to treat U18 for injectables for aesthetic purposes. I know what you’re thinking,
-Why are U18 year olds having treatment like this?
-Why are practitioners treating them?
-Why wasn’t this implemented sooner?
Don’t get me wrong, injectables are an incredible treatment and can be used in a subtle way to change the shape of the face, so in more ethical cases U18’s could be treated to enhance/correct their facial contour which in a lot of cases can affect one’s mental wellbeing quite considerably. However, in more unethical cases, you’ll find they are wanting to distort their facial features for no other reason than because of the media, following suit with the reality shows likes Love Island, Towie and Made in Chelsea, just a few shows that advocate very young people having these treatments.
Unfortunately, the beauty & aesthetics industry in wholly unregulated, which mean there aren’t proper’ protocols of safe practice in place to ensure the safety of the clients. In January 2022 Dr Steven Land, director of an aesthetic clinic, along with 300 other UK aesthetic doctors & nurses sent a letter to GMC (general medical council) demanding change on non-medics prescribing, leading to poor practice which goes unchecked. This isn’t the only letter sent to the GMC, over the years many Drs and different councils have been doing everything in their power to raise more awareness on this, which over time is definitely helping to create a more safe practice for you.
BBC 1 radio, did an undercover investigation late last year after this regulation was put in place to see how many people offering this service, moving with the regulations or continuing to ignore these regulatory bodies. BBC radio made a fake account pretending to be a U18 year old looking for injectables, stating the obvious that they knew the regulations had changed but still wanted treatment and shockingly found practitioners still offering to book them in for a treatment, knowing it was now illegal.
There is only so much the medical professionals and councils can do to encourage the GMC for proper regulations to create a safer space for this treatment, however, it is also going to take us, the people who have this treatment to learn more about whom you’re going to, why it’s recommended to see a medical professional and hopefully to bring some sort of order to this chaos.
