UK patients interested in cosmetic surgery are at greater risk than ever before because of professional greed and a lack of regulation, experts have claimed.
Nigel Mercer president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has spoken out in a special edition of the Royal Society of Medicine journal Clinical Risk about the seriousness of the current situation.
Mr Mercer, also a consultant plastic surgeon, has written a paper in the journal entitled Clinical Risk in Aesthetic Surgery, in which he says: “We have reached a stage where public expectation, driven by media hype and, dare one say, professional greed, has brought us to a ‘perfect storm’ in the cosmetic surgical market.
“There has been a massive increase in ‘marketing’, including discount vouchers, 2-for-1 offers and holidays with surgery! In no other area of medicine is there such an unregulated mess. What is worse is that national governments would not allow it to happen in other areas of medicine. Imagine a ‘2-for-1’ advert for general surgery?”
The journal’s editor Dr Harvey Marcovitch commissioned leading experts in the field to write for the issue and said: “Patient safety is this journal’s main aim and there can be no area of medicine where patients in the UK are more in need of protection.
“We need tight control of advertising of cosmetic surgery – including internet advertising. We need proper regulation of the industry and we need both surgeons and GPs to manage patient expectation.”
In his article, Mr Mercer says: “Perhaps, like tobacco, there should be a Europe-wide ban on advertising all cosmetic ‘surgical’ procedures, including on search engines.
“If we have to sell anything, we should sell our advice, not procedures. If we cannot self-regulate, then, like the financial institutions, regulation will eventually be imposed.
“Perhaps the single most important factor in reducing clinical risk in cosmetic surgery is the motive for performing any procedure must never be financial gain, so I suggest we get our act together as an industry as we are in grave danger of biting the hand that feeds us.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said there were several interlocking regulatory systems in the UK covering a wide range of cosmetic services from laser treatment through to surgery.
“All providers offering surgery are subject to tough regulation by the Care Quality Commission,” he said, adding that all clinicians offering cosmetic treatments were answerable to their professional regulator.
Clin Risk 2009;15:215-217
DOI:10.1258/cr.2009.090043
