“Two for One” Deal on Cosmetic Surgery Not Such a Deal After All
Some of Britain’s leading cosmetic surgeons are out to get their own, insisting that new regulations are needed to rein in the out of control, unregulated, cosmetic surgery industry.
Bans on certain types of advertising and discount promotions are being suggested as a way to protect the public from dangerous procedures achieved with unapproved products by unlicensed practitioners.
With rampant advertising on the internet and other media sources some consumers liken shopping for cosmetic surgery to shopping for shoes or cars. Such promotions like “two for one deals” and holidays that feature a cosmetic procedure included, turn patients into shoppers and medical procedures into products. In a November 2009 interview with The Times, Nigel Mercer, president of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons insisted that quick and decisive action is needed to regulate the cosmetic surgery industry. Citing the lack of a regulating board, Mr. Mercer warned against the increasing availability of unlicensed “fillers” which are injected into the body and should be regulated like medicine. Mercer cites the fillers as only one of the rampant dangers of the increasing interest in cosmetic surgery.
As advertising methods become more sophisticated the consumer is bombarded with the idea that a cosmetic procedure does not have the same risks and complications as any other medical procedure. Some are also suggesting that physicians should be registered specialists in the field of cosmetic surgery in order to perform procedures, and not just general practitioners which is the standard now.
France leads the way in regulating cosmetic surgery advertisements in its total ban on all forms of cosmetic surgery.
Though France can regulate billboards and print media, the internet is still touting cheap surgeries and special promotions. With breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, face and neck lifts, and filler injections on the rise, concerns for patient safety seem to be dropping away as more and more unscrupulous cosmetic surgery providers scramble to get their share of the burgeoning industry.
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