Want to avoid a botched beauty procedure? That's what you need to be wary of

Recent news that more than a dozen beauty cosmetic operators have been closed in Victoria over the past year is going to worry many people.

A beauty therapist would operate at the back of a jewelery store, offering risky procedures, including mole removal, face filling and firming skin. In many cases, plastic surgeons and dermatologists have had to deal with the damage done in these dishonest salons, including swelling, scars and infections.

Although low cost procedures can be appealing, there are several things you need to keep in mind to make sure the treatments you receive are safe and reputable.

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The skin is the body's largest and most accessible body, making skin procedures such as laser, dermabrasion, microneedling, peels, toxin injections and fillers very common among unqualified people or poorly qualified and clinics.

The Medical Board of Australia, supported by the Australian Agency for the Regulation of Health Practitioners (AHPRA), is the governing body of health professionals. They register practitioners and apply guidelines for medical and surgical aesthetic procedures, which serve to protect the community.

There have been cases where licensed physicians, including GPs, have performed procedures outside their area of ​​expertise or have not complied with codes of conduct, sometimes with tragic consequences. But in many of these cases, the regulations in place have identified wrongdoers and ensured that disciplinary action is taken.

However, for most non-medical operators, no training or education requirements are required, there are no uniform professional standards or national codes of conduct, and there is no governing body at all. which people can address their concerns.

Essentially, these beauty salons and non-medical clinics are simply not regulated by an external organization or organization.

The importance of medical training

The skin is an organ, just like the heart or the lungs. Its structure and function are complex. To practice the profession of dermatologist, a person must first obtain his medical degree, and then six additional years of specialist training in all areas related to skin, hair and nails.

Laser treatment is usually offered to treat things like redness on the skin, brown spots and to improve the texture and tone of the skin.

In order to perform laser treatments safely, accurate diagnosis is important. Does the brown spot on the cheek want to remove a freckle, a melasma (a discolouration of the skin) or a melanoma? A person without a medical history could easily confuse a melanoma with a freckle, which could be deadly.

Even if you just have a freckle, which laser settings will be safe and effective? An intimate understanding of the structure and function of the skin and the physics of the laser is needed to make these important decisions.

Regulations regarding the use of a laser differ from state to state. In Western Australia, unless you are a doctor, nurse or have a degree or certificate in beauty therapy (or the equivalent) with license, you can not use a laser for # 39; waxing. Additional restrictions apply to the use of lasers for cosmetic procedures and removal of tattoos. In Queensland and Tasmania, only appropriate licensees can use laser devices.

For the rest of the country, no regulation exists. This means that everyone can offer skin treatments. A person who has taken online training or a weekend can suspend a "laser certificate" on the wall and start using lasers and other skin treatment devices.

The same goes for microneedling, inserting very fine and short needles into the skin for rejuvenation purposes or to reduce acne scars. Although some states regulate procedures involving skin penetration, particularly with respect to infection control, providers are not subject to any minimum uniform training requirements.

The depth of penetration of the micro-needle device, the type of needle chosen and the care before and after treatment are essential to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks badociated with the procedure.

Similarly, for injections and anti-wrinkle fillers, an intimate understanding of facial anatomy is needed to ensure safe and effective treatment. Complications can range from local infection to injection site to blindness. It is very risky to have people performing these procedures who do not have medical training.

Health professionals take precautions to minimize the risk of complications and are trained to recognize and treat complications that will inevitably occur from time to time. They can also prescribe appropriate medications to help, for example, to get an infection or to relieve pain. Non-medical providers can not.

Equipment and sanitation

There are hundreds of lasers, microneedling and skin care devices. There are different brands, different models and different security features. Thus, variable results can be observed with different devices.

Any piece of equipment that enters the skin must be sterilized in a medical grade sterilizer. The sterilization of the equipment prevents the transmission of blood-borne infections, such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Do not sterilize properly or do not do it everywhere where patients and the community are at risk.

It must be said that there are many trained non-physician practitioners who adhere to infection control measures, understand what is safe and what is not, and who administer treatments under conditions health.

What needs to change?

Regulators and the government need to work together to protect the community. We need to better regulate who can operate the lasers and other skin devices, who can inject, cut and treat the skin and in what kind of environment this can occur. And we even need to regulate advertising – who can use the words "skin specialist", "medical grade skin peel", and so on. Because now everyone can do it.

So, how can a consumer know how to access a treatment from a qualified practitioner? Since there is little or no regulation in some parts of the country, it is very difficult to be sure, but these tips can help you:

If you want to be treated by a doctor, check the APHRA website to find out if the practitioner you are going to see is registered, you only get what you pay for. If the consultations and treatments are very cheap, you may want to consider the quality of the equipment and the experience of the provider. Do not believe everything you read online. Health professionals are not allowed to post testimonials on their websites. So do not use a supplier on this basis-trust. If something is wrong with the place or person, leave.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.