Calls made for greater regulation of the cosmetic surgery market

Posted 24/01/2012

It was reported in the news yesterday that the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) are calling for greater regulation of the cosmetic surgery market, including a restriction on the type of advertising clinics can use. We already know that regulation of the market is light and in light of the recent PIP implant scandal, there is clearly a need for tougher regulation across all aspects of the cosmetic surgery industry.Samantha Collins, a medical injury Solicitor at Ashtons Legal comments: “There appears to be this continued trivialisation of cosmetic procedures and a promise of making people ‘beautiful’, influencing people with advertising and marketing and setting people up with unrealistic expectations. Television ‘make-over’ programmes now have a regular slot in weekly television listings, displaying the amazing transformations, both physical and emotional, of the patient’s involved and rarely assessing the hazards involved in what is often very invasive surgery. To add to this, marketing campaigns from the clinics themselves market ‘a new you’, ‘a better you’, and have been known to offer money off deals if a patient opts to undergo multiple procedures. Invasive and potentially dangerous procedures are being portrayed as minor against the images of beautiful men and women plastered over marketing literature. Regulation needs to be brought in before the market gets further out of control.”